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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.
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