Nick Leyva
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nicholas Tomas Leyva (born August 16, 1953, in Ontario, California) is a former coach and manager in American Major League Baseball. He was the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies from 1989 though early 1991.
As a player, Leyva was an infielder in minor league baseball. He began his managing career at age 24 with the Rookie-level Johnson City Cardinals of the Appalachian League in 1978. By 1983, he was manager of the parent St. Louis Cardinals' AA farm team, the Arkansas Travelers of the Texas League.
He then served on the major league coaching staff of Whitey Herzog's Cardinals for five seasons, 1984-88. He was the third base coach of two National League champions, the 1985 and 1987 Cardinals.
In 1989, he was hired as manager of the Phillies by his former farm director in St. Louis, Lee Thomas. But Leyva's inaugural Philadelphia team won only 67 of 162 games, and finished last in the National League East Division. In 1990, his team won ten more games and finished fourth, but still played eight games below the .500 mark. When the 1991 Phils dropped nine of their first 13 games, Leyva was ousted on April 23. His career totals as a major league manager were 148 victories, 189 defeats (.439).
He then spent several seasons as the third-base coach of the Toronto Blue Jays and worked at multiple levels of the Chicago White Sox farm system before serving as third-base coach of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2007. His tenure in that job lasted one season.
He is listed as the 2008 manager of the Kingsport Mets of the Appalachian League, a Rookie-level affiliate of the New York Mets.[1]
[edit] References
- Bucek, Jeanine, ed. dir., The Baseball Encyclopedia. New York: Macmillan Books, 1996.
| Preceded by John Vukovich |
Philadelphia Phillies Manager 1989-1991 |
Succeeded by Jim Fregosi |
|
|||||
