Jim Leyland: “I looked up and the (expletive) took off”

New Tigers manager Brad Ausmus accidentally gave a steal sign in a spring training game, so old Tigers manager Jim Leyland talked to Chris Iott of MLive.com about a time he once did that same thing while with the Pirates in 1992:

“Tom Prince was on first,” Leyland said. “He was a slow catcher. We were behind about three runs late in the game and my steal sign that day was if I put my arm up on the back pad (behind the bench) in the dugout. I was looking at something on my thing and I put my arm up. I was looking at my lineup card or something. I looked up and the (expletive) took off.”

So many stories like this turn out to be apocryphal, which is both the good thing and the bad thing about being able to easily look stuff up on the internet, but Iott did a little digging and actually found the game on Baseball-Reference.com.

Tom Prince attempted to steal second base with one out in the ninth inning of a game in which the Pirates were trailing 6-3, which really makes me hope someone contacts Prince and asks him what was going through his mind when he saw the steal sign.

Oh, and the Pirates made a late comeback and ended up losing by ... one run.

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