Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition

Former Marlins manager Jim Leyland’s, left, story to be told in a new MLB Network documentar­y.

- By Tim Healey Staff writer thealey@sun-sentinel.com, @timbhealey

Inside Jim Leyland’s Pittsburgh home, surrounded by artifacts and photos and newspaper clippings from his half-century in and around baseball, are at least two relics from his time managing the then-Florida Marlins.

One is the pair of shoes Leyland wore during the Marlins’ 1997 World Series win over the Cleveland Indians, bronzed and given to him by his wife, Katie. The other is a copy of the 1997 World Series trophy — one of seven in existence, Leyland said, and given to him by former Marlins owner H. Wayne Huizenga.

“I’m not really sure if I’m supposed to have that,” Leyland says with a laugh in a new documentar­y that debuts on MLB Network at 9 p.m. today.

The hourlong “Jim Leyland: A Life in Baseball” offers an indepth look at his lengthy career, from heartbreak after the 1992 NLCS with the Pirates to the 1997 World Series with the Marlins to the ensuing Florida firesale to a stopover in Colorado to an eventual swan song in Detroit.

Leyland, 72, is the subject of such a documentar­y in advance of this year’s World Baseball Classic, in which Leyland will manage Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich and the rest of Team USA — his first time leading a team since the 2013 Tigers.

Among those interviewe­d in Tuesday’s special are former Marlins players Gary Sheffield and Bobby Bonilla, former hitting coach Barry Bonds, former general manager Dave Dombrowski and former coach Rich Donnelly.

Leyland’s two seasons in South Florida — 1997 and 1998 — get a lot of attention. The 1997 championsh­ip was the only title in Leyland’s 22 seasons as a big league manager, and close to two decades later he can recall with ease the details and emotions of Game 7.

“You really kind of had to pinch yourself to realize you were there,” says Leyland, his eyes teary, in the film. “There were 60-some-thousand people there. And the impact this had on little kids and dads and grandsons — it’s unbelievab­le. To think that you’re involved in that, it’s touching.”

Sheffield’s reflection­s are particular­ly poignant. The first time Sheffield met Leyland — the start of spring training ’97 — the manager told the star outfielder the team should have legitimate World Series ambitions.

A little over a year later, as the reigning champs traded most of their best players, the Marlins were about to send Sheffield and others to the Dodgers in the Mike Piazza deal.

Sheffield, who had a no-trade clause, was going to kill the trade. Leyland told him to go.

“Mr. Leyland, a man I care about deeply, pulled me to the side and said, ‘Gary, listen to me and listen to me good,’” Sheffield says in the documentar­y. “‘It’s going to get real bad. I’m not even going to be here. I’m out of here.’”

“I said, Jim, if you look me in my eyes and say you’re out of here, then I’ll leave. He said, ‘You have my word.’”

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