On the morning of September 11, 2001, former New York Mets pitcher Al Leiter had quietly flown home to New York without informing team management, intending to walk his daughter to her first day of first grade before pitching in Pittsburgh that night. Decades later, he told the full story on OutKick's "The Craig Carton Show," and the account runs from a small act of fatherhood to watching the World Trade Center burn from a cab on the Triborough Bridge.
Leiter, by his own estimate somewhere around 15 or 16 years into the big leagues at the time, had spotted what looked like a workable gap. US Air ran an hourly shuttle between New York and Pittsburgh. He could drop his daughter at school, make the return flight, and be in Pittsburgh in time to pitch. He acknowledged the trip was uncleared with manager Bobby Valentine or general manager Steve Phillips.
He was already seated on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport when initial reports reached the cockpit. The pilot described what appeared to be a news helicopter near the World Trade Center. Within five minutes the plane turned back. LaGuardia was closed and New York airspace shut down. Passengers were told to evacuate with their belongings.
Heading out of New York
Still expecting to pitch that night, Leiter called a contact he identified as Jay Harts to arrange a flight out of Philadelphia. He hired a cab. The driver was a Pakistani woman who was crying. Going over the Triborough Bridge, he could see both towers burning.
When New York City was sealed off, he rerouted north on the Major Deegan Expressway, aiming for the Tappan Zee Bridge and then south through New Jersey to Philadelphia. Past Yankee Stadium, heading north, the radio reported that the Pentagon had been hit. He called Steve Phillips. He told the general manager he was fairly sure they were not playing baseball that night, and Phillips told him not to worry about it.
Keeping the record
Speaking on the show decades after the attacks, Leiter said his account of that morning has not changed. He cited the finding that 19 Al-Qaeda operatives brought down four planes and expressed concern that the broader narrative around September 11 is shifting in ways he disagrees with. He described "Never Forget" as active obligation rather than slogan. The toll he named: approximately 3,000 people killed, and close to 400 firefighters who ran into the buildings.