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As declared by Mayor Dave Bing, Monday was Jim Leyland Day in Detroit. At the "Detroit Legacies in Black and White" event held at the Fox Theater, the former Detroit Tigers skipper received a plaque from the city, given to Leyland by his favorite player, Don Kelly.
During a discussion hosted by Mitch Albom, a goateed Leyland professed to be a fan of old-school Motown. He also sung a few lines of one his favorite songs. Mlive recorded the skipper's warbling for all posterity.
When he wasn't croaking out tunes, Leyland also gave a little more insight into his new role as a team consultant.
"I'm going to go to the winter meetings here in December," he said. "I'm going to be spending a little bit of time in spring training — I don't know how much. I'm going to maybe go around to the minor league clubs, and look at some of our prospects — possibly go out toward trading deadline to look at a player. So I'm kind of going to be like a jack of all trades, master of none."
He also had good things to say about his replacement, Brad Ausmus.
"He's everything that you've been hearing about and reading about. He was a very tough, hard-nosed player — very smart catcher, very energetic. I think he's going to do great," Leyland said before the event. "He's going to go through some growing pains at times because he hasn't managed, but he's so bright. He's very smart. ... He's his own man. I can tell that already. He's going to do things his way, and that's the way it should be. I think they're really in good hands."
Leyland has taken to his semi-retirement quite well, though he remains disappointed the Tigers didn't make it to the promised land by beating the Boston Red Sox.
"I thought we were better than they were."
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