COULD JIM LEYLAND JOIN DAVE DOMBROWSKI IN PHILADELPHIA

Rebooted?

In 1986, the Chicago White Sox named Ken "Hawk" Harrelson — a broadcaster — as the new General Manager. He cleaned house firing the GM Roland Hemond and the assistant GM, Dave Dombrowski. Then during the season, he also fired manager Tony LaRussa. Prior to the season LaRussa's third base coach, Jim Leyland, was named manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Old English D

In 2003 Kirk Gibson was the bench coach for the Detroit Tigers. One of the catchers on that team was A.J. Hinch. LaRussa was now managing the St. Louis Cardinals after a successful stint in Oakland following the Chicago jettison. Leyland was retired after a lousy season in Colorado in 1999 which caused him to decide he was washed up. After the 2005 season, Gibby was let go along with manager Alan Trammell and many other 1984 Tigers stars when General Manager Dave Dombrowski decided to go in a different direction. In October 2005, Jim Leyland was named the manager of the Detroit Tigers. The 2006 season was a renaissance for both Leyland and the Tigers, when they made it to the World Series — losing to Tony LaRussa's Cardinals.

Jim Leyland

On July 1, 2010, the Arizona Diamondbacks fired manager A.J. Hinch and promoted bench coach Kirk Gibson to manager. Gibby managed in the desert for a couple of years, but team president LaRussa and GM Dave Stewart jettisoned him when they took over the organization. That didn't last long, either.

The Illitch family fired Dombroski in 2015 because he allegedly thought the team needed to begin a rebuilding project — and he quickly joined the Boston Red Sox to resurrect them (but they didn't really need it!) In 2017, LaRussa joined Dombrowski in Boston.

Classic Gibson v. Borders from Sports Illustrated

Now, LaRussa, 77, is back managing the White Sox and both Hinch and Gibson are employed by the Tigers. Dombrowski is running the Philadelphia Phillies, Jim Leyland, who is also 77 years old, is retired, and the Tigers are still rebuilding. The Phillies have an interim manager right now, Jim Leyland lives in Pennsylvania, and he has unretired before, as has his former GM who he did win a World Series for in Florida, as well as his former boss in Chicago.

Dombrowski at the annual Tigers dinner in Lakeland, FLA.

What would have happened if Dombrowski had somehow convinced Leyland to stick it out in 2014 for the Tigers? We'll never know, but it's fun to speculate.

Dombrowski walked away. Avila took over. Wouldn't you like to know what happened?