Tag: Al Leiter

Jason Isringhausen's 1998 Topps Stadium Club baseball card
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A late-1990s flashback, via some newly-acquired Mets baseball cards

Posted on by Paul

This past weekend, I went out to Pennsylvania with my friend Greg to watch the end of the Atlantic League Championship Series. The Lancaster Barnstormers wrapped up their sweep of the Sugarland Skeeters on Friday night, so there was plenty of time for sightseeing during the rest of the weekend. (Feel free to check out my trip photos on Flickr.)

One of the places we stopped on Saturday was Don’s Collectibles on Main Street in Strasburg, Pa. Don runs a very cool little shop with a wide variety of collectibles, but of course I went for the baseball cards. I picked up a few shrink-wrapped bricks of cards from late-1990s sets that I had never collected – they were a dollar a piece and they each included a number of stars and some potential future Hall of Famers.

But if you’ve been reading Paul’s Random Baseball Stuff very long, you know I’m going to focus on the Mets cards. And for a while, I was starting to think some Topps photo editor was a really big Yankees fan.

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Posted in Baseball Cards, New York Mets, Uncategorized

Mets Cards of the Day: Al Leiter

Posted on by Paul

Here are a couple more of the Mets cards that I got from Chris at On Card Autos:

Al Leiter always drove me nuts when he pitched for the Mets. He’d go to a full count on far too many batters, so he’d reach his limit after five or six innings most nights.

But you can’t argue too much with success. He won 95 games and lost 67 in seven seasons with the Mets. His first year with the Mets was his best: 17-6 with a 2.47 ERA in 1998. He was 16-8 with a 3.20 ERA in 2000. And in 1999, he pitched a two-hit complete game shutout in a one-game playoff to put the Mets in the postseason for the first time since 1988.

The Leaf card on the left features a great photo from 2004, Leiter’s final season with the Mets.

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Posted in Autographs, Baseball Cards, Uncategorized

Autograph of the day: Al Leiter

Posted on by Paul

 

Al Leiter
Al Leiter

Al Leiter spent the final seven years of a 19-year Major League career pitching for the New York Mets. He won 95 games for the Mets, good enough for sixth place on the team’s all-time victories list. (He also lost 67 games — good for 10th place.)

It’s tough to think of the turn-of-the-century Mets without thinking of Al Leiter. His performance in game #163 of the 1999 season has to be considered one of the best big game showings in team history.

I purchased the 2004 Bowman Heritage card pictured above from a SportsGraphing.com member who was breaking up a partial signed set this summer.