Leiter Hangs It Up

Gothamist has seen Al Leiter play on many occasions. The worst performance that we might have witnessed though was when he joined Bruce Springsteen on stage at a performance at Shea Stadium. It was fitting then that before his final appearance on the pitcher's mound he warmed up to a song by The Boss. At Legends Field in Tampa yesterday, Leiter called it a career after 22 seasons in the Majors. Leiter started his career with the Yankees before playing parts of seven seasons with the Blue Jays and two seasons with the Marlins. After a championship season with Florida in 1997, including a no-hitter for the team, Leiter returned to New York for a stint with the Mets. While with the Mets, Leiter had 10-plus wins for each of his seven seasons, with his best year in 1997 as he was 17-6, had a 2.47 ERA and 174 strikeouts. Last season was less than memorable as he started it with the Marlins before being traded back to the Yankees.

With his abilities as a lefty and his cut fastball, Leiter returned to Yankee camp this spring hoping to make the roster, but his performance at the World Baseball Classic made it obvious that it was time to call it quits. The 40 year-old Toms River, NJ native was shelled by Canada in the United States' first round loss. He retires with a career record of 162-132, a career 3.80 ERA and 1974 strikeouts.

Some of Leiter's teammates didn't even know that it was his last game. Leiter now heads to the YES broadcast booth, which from what we've seen in the past, is a great step for him and a good addition for YES. As long as he stays away from singing, we're okay with that.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By tien mao on March 20, 2006 12:40 PM

Comments [rss]

your sister's gay boyfriend

And that's actually John Cusack on the baseball card.

Joe Checkler

one more thing: he is not Jewish.

Joe Checkler

It's not "Tom's River" it's Toms River.

saltydog

That's why I loved that card (should have clarified.) It was up there with my Billy Ripken F@#$ Face card from Fleer, and a Gary Sheffield Upper Deck card with the wrong position on it. As a 12 year old dork I got a bick kick out of error cards!

tien

ha. in a way, that makes the image choice even better!

sp

THANK GOD HE'S GONE!!!!!!!!!

gabe

First Jewish President - you heard it here first - Leiter runs and wins for the Republicans on a "back to basics" finance and secturity platform in 2012. Stay tuned.

honksandsirens

That's not Al Leiter! This baseball card came out in 1988, and Topps printed the wrong person on the card. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the real card and this error card. This exceprt is from a story in USA Today:

An error involving Mets pitcher Al Leiter was the result of misinterpreted handwriting on a glove. Leiter's rookie card in 1988 carried a picture of fellow left-hander Steve George. "My first year in a big-league camp, I wore number 56. He had SG on his glove and the people at Topps mistook SG for 56," Leiter says. Topps corrected the error and the new card shot up in value. But like many cards of that era, with high production runs, the value has plummeted. "It think it got as high as 12 bucks. It's down to a quarter now," says Leiter. "Like the stock market."