If pitching the Mets into the 2000 World Sequence ever appears like simply yesterday to Al Leiter, he has a flesh-and-blood reminder of how a lot time really has handed.
Leiter’s son, Jack, was born earlier that yr and now could be a 23-year-old prime pitching prospect making an attempt to earn a promotion to the Texas Rangers.
Saturday was the elder Leiter’s day to be again within the majors another time as one in all 4 inductees into the Mets’ Corridor of Fame throughout a ceremony earlier than the Mets’ 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays at Citi Area, however Jack was available to shock his father by catching his ceremonial first pitch.
“My final 4 years with the Mets, any time I had a chance to convey him out … both early or after the sport and play Wiffle ball or one thing out on the sphere,” mentioned Leiter, who was misled into considering his son couldn’t attend the ceremony due to obligations to his Double-A group. “It began early seeing my son love the sport. [His birth] being the yr we go to the World Sequence was much more particular.”
Leiter (1998-2004), former third baseman Howard Johnson (1985-93) and broadcasters Gary Cohen (tv) and Howie Rose (radio) had been honored with commemorative blue jackets and plaques added to the Corridor of Fame museum at Citi Area. For Leiter, it’s one other chapter in a narrative that started when he was a younger Mets fan in Toms River, N.J.
“To finally get to Queens once I’m 32 years outdated and get an opportunity to play seven years for the group that I rooted for as a child was dream-come-true stuff,” Leiter, 57, mentioned.
“I used to be a Mets fan at delivery. My dad was born in Manhattan, raised on Lengthy Island, beloved Casey Stengel and it was the beginning of the Leiter household. It was all about that.”
Johnson stays one in all 4 gamers in MLB historical past with at the least three seasons of 30 residence runs and 30 stolen bases. He was a member of the Mets’ final championship group in 1986.
“The truth that all my household is right here to witness that is one thing I’m going to recollect for the remainder of my life,” Johnson mentioned. “With the ability to work together with the followers ultimately is all the time good. That’s what units New York aside. My first time strolling out to Shea Stadium, it gave you goosebumps.”
Each Johnson (1984 Tigers) and Leiter (1992-93 Blue Jays) received World Sequence titles elsewhere earlier than coming to the Mets as lacking items. Leiter’s largest particular person second was a two-hit shutout within the 1999 Nationwide League wild-card tiebreaker recreation.
“In case you are locked in and you want good about what you’re doing, it’s thrilling,” Leiter mentioned, reflecting on that second. “Our group was beginning to really feel the mojo and it was constructing.”
The emotion of his many huge video games rushed again to Johnson a bit Saturday.
“There’s most likely not a day that goes by that we don’t take into consideration having the ability to play the sport that we did after we had been 25 at that degree,” Johnson mentioned. “Each time you get away from bed, there’s a reminder that was a very long time in the past. It’s nearly like two totally different folks. The older we get, that particular person goes additional away. I wish to know that one that nonetheless performed.”
The Mets made certain that followers will know the names Leiter and Johnson for many years to come back.
