PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Homecoming weekend in Perrysburg, Ohio welcomed back a very special guest on Saturday, a guest who is already enjoying a banner year.
Jim Leyland, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in July, came back to his hometown to receive the key to the city he grew up in.
The Perrysburg Chamber of Commerce and the Perrysburg Alumni Association held the ceremony on Saturday afternoon.
Leyland spent 22 years as a manager at baseball’s highest level; the majority of the time with the Pittsburgh Pirates but also, memorably for local baseball fans, with the Detroit Tigers.
Leyland says receiving the key to the city and seeing the signs coming into town that let people know it’s his birthplace, is a great honor.
“To be honored in your hometown, that's as special as it gets. I'm very proud, very humbled. Perrysburg is still my birthplace and it always will be,” said Leyland.
Leyland was part of a large family growing up in the 1950s and early 60s. He says the town has changed a lot in the time since he lived there, from a village of just over a square mile to an expanding suburb of Toledo.
At the time Leyland was growing up, the population was about 5,500 people, according to the 1960 census. The population today is over 25,000.
All afternoon, people came up to Leyland to reminisce his days as a star athlete playing for Perrysburg High School.
During his time at PHS, from which he graduated in 1962, Leyland enjoyed success both on the field and off.
He earned nine varsity letters playing football, basketball and baseball. He was selected All-NLL quarterback in football. He also was also selected All-Wood County Guard in basketball and All-NLL in baseball. He was also the sports editor for the Black and Gold yearbook staff. He was involved in the school play during his junior and senior years and was voted "The Most Popular Boy" by the student body in 1962.
For these accomplishments, Leyland was elected to the Perrysburg High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.
Leyland had nothing but good things to say about his hometown.
“It's not the city that makes Perrysburg good, it's the people in the city,” said Leyland.
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