Al Leiter is buddies with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Christie has a senate seat to fill after Sen. Frank Lautenberg died. You know where this is going, right? Al Leiter, the former Yankees and Mets pitcher and current baseball announcer, might just become a senator.
Leiter, who currently works for the YES and MLB networks, acknowledged that his name is getting tossed around. He told ESPN New York:
Who wouldn’t be interested if the governor of your state for whatever reason of their due process thought [you were] worthy, in their opinion?”
Playing it modest, eh Al? That's a good political move. The people like that stuff.
Leiter isn't a political novice. He was part of Christie's transition team and campaigned for the current governor. Like Christie, he's a Republican. Christie did announce that there will be a special election this fall to fill the senate seat, and not just an appointment. So if Leiter wants to be a senator, he'll have to jump all the way in to politics.
If Leiter made the move successfully, he'd be a modern day Jim Bunning, who pitched for the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies among others in a Hall of Fame baseball career from 1955-1971. He then was a state senator in his native Kentucky and served in Congress. Bunning was a better pitcher than Leiter — he threw a perfect game and he had his number retired by the Phillies in addition to getting elected to the Hall. But Leiter has experience an announcer.
As we all know with politics, you gotta have a gift to gab.
Baseball season's in full swing. Don't miss a thing.
Follow @MikeOz and @bigleaguestew, on Twitter, along with the BLS Facebook page.
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