Then & Now – All-Star Managers

2013 Topps Heritage – Jim Leyland

2013 Topps Heritage – Bruce Bochy

Tonight, Jim Leyland of the Detroit Tigers led his American League All-Stars to a 3-0 win over Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants and his National League All-Stars in New York.  This leads us to a quick look back at 1987, the first time they appeared in a baseball card set together:

1987 Topps – Jim Leyland

1987 Topps – Bruce Bochy

Jim Leyland was only 74 years old in 1987, still had a dark mustache, and was just entering his second year of an 11-year tenure as the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  This, of course, was before he moved to Florida (as all old men do), Colorado (remember that? No?) and Detroit (because he thought it was still booming like it was 1955.  It is not.).

Bruce Bochy was entering his final season as a player in 1987.  Over 358 games with three teams, Bochy retired with a .239 batting average, a hit in his only World Series at-bat, and an excellent mustache, which later became a very boring old man goatee… which you can do when you’ve just won two World Series in three years.

Obvious edge here: Leyland

Manly, Magical Mustaches – Jim Leyland

2011 Topps Heritage – Jim Leyland

Today, on the eve of game three of the 2012 ALCS, it is time we take a moment to appreciate Jim Leyland’s mustache.  It doesn’t get the credit it deserves as one of the manliest of manly mustaches.

Jim Leyland’s mustache is the kind of mustache that your grandfather would have if he was the kind of grandfather that appreciated a good bottle of scotch.  It’s the kind of mustache that has some serious stories about the war in Korea, or maybe the Cold War.  It’s the kind of mustache that is equally at home falling asleep in front of a fireplace with a book on its chest, or going absolutely apeshit because it didn’t get its way.

Jim Leyland is doing a hell of a job managing all those fat guys in Detroit through that incredibly easy division, and I respect him for it.  You’ve got to think, though, that the mustache is doing the lion’s share of the work.