The Bard of Maumee

Toledo's own Jim Leyland compared to Stratford's own Billy Shakespeare:

Leyland admitted that "the Yankees might intimidate one of his rookie pitchers." But in a different era, Achilles from "Troilus and Cressida" expressed the same emotion: "My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirred. And I myself see not the bottom of it."

When his players grow weary, Leyland encourages them to "pick it up." This is close to King Henry V's version, "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more . . ."

. . . Finally, as the Tigers' season rolls along, Jim and Shakespeare are thinking alike. Leyland has said, "Last year is in the book. This year is not in the book." The 16th Century bard's Ophelia put it this way: "Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be."

Leyland -- and the owners of Comerica Park -- had better be careful, however. Rumor has it that it was Shakespeare's habit of puffing on Marlboro Reds at the Globe Theater which ultimately caused it to burn down in 1613 during a staging of Henry VIII.