Al Leiter
Al Leiter
Alois "Al" Terry Leiteris a former Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher. Leiter pitched 19 seasons in the Major Leagues for New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Florida Marlins, and New York Mets. He is now a studio analyst for MLB Network and a color commentator for the YES Network and Fox Sports Florida...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth23 October 1965
CityToms River, NJ
CountryUnited States of America
You put deadlines on people you really don't want, because that's how you feel about them.
The pitcher setting up the batter. It's chess, and you play with it.
I like starting. It's pretty cool.
I did not want to leave the Mets and I did not want to leave New York.
Announcers don't do enough of the cat-and-mouse strategy and all the work that goes into it. You watch a broadcast and guys get the pitches wrong.
Pitches are like pages of a book; they're so important. The chess game; how I set you up early, and how I'll do it differently later.
I remember being in shock. The night before the Orioles had told my brothers (both pitchers in the organization at the time) that they were going to take me with the last pick in the first round. The Yankees had taken a very low profile.
I love the game very much, but when you were a certain type of player for a few years, being a front-end starter, that's the way I still think I can pitch. But the body tells you no.
I look at this as a second life. Every game feels like an event. Every pitch matters. I need that. It elevates your aggressiveness.
Hey, for the first time in 20 years I can be down the Shore for July Fourth fireworks. Maybe go to Seaside for Memorial Day. I always missed that.
But I'm still not 100% convinced that Roger Clemens took steroids. I'm not.
I didn't help our team. I wasn't able to stop the bleeding.
We didn't get it done, ... That was a big surprise and a feeling of shock.
He was a rock star. The little bit of attention other guys or I would usually get would suddenly be zero. He'd be miserable but we'd be left alone.