Jim Leyland Reveals Carefree New Attitude To Jeff Riger, Laughs About 'Cat And Mouse' Game He Played With Media
By: Jeff Riger
@riger1984
It's always nice to see the ole' skip at the ballpark...
Over the weekend, former Tigers manager Jim Leyland was in town for a wedding and stopped by Comerica Park to take in the game Friday night against the Indians.
Leyland seems to be enjoying life these days. Not only does he work for the Tigers, assisting GM Dave Dombrowski but he also works for Major League Baseball aiding in the new instant replay venture. He also seems pretty stress free. Gone are the days when Leyland would blow up at the media for a prying question or yell at an umpire while his blood pressure shot up sky high. Now the former manager seems relaxed and stress free.
He even seems to like me...
Check out the audio below to hear Leyland talk about people who always questioned his line-up and the media that tried like hell to rile him up -- which I may have been guilty of once or twice.
Here, Leyland talks about Brad Ausmus -- who, he says, is doing what he did at the helm. "I give Brad credit, he's smart," Leyland says. "He's doing basically exactly what I did."
Does he listen to sports radio these days?
"What I always said was ... I always liked you personally ... I didn't like your assignment necessarily," Leyland said to Riger, adding he thinks he has a "great personality" and would actually welcome having a drink with him.
"I thought my relationship with the media in Detroit was absolutely terrific," he added.
And then he went on -- surprisingly -- to discuss the "cat and mouse" game he played with the media where he allegedly pretended to be in a bad mood so they wouldn't go for the tough question.
