Leiter Lends Helping Hand With Charity

NEW YORK Mets pitcher gives back to community with Leiter's Landing, which provides meals to the elderly, computers for schools and playfields for kids.

NEW YORK - The white minivan rolls through Queens, a symbol of hope on wheels. A huge color photo of Al Leiter in his windup covers one side of the van.

If it were not for that picture, many of the people the van delivers meals to would not know Leiter is one of the New York Mets' top pitchers. Whether Leiter wins 20 or two games in 2000, will not change those people's opinions of the man they simply call Al.

Leiter is a hero in this neighborhood for something much deeper than balls and strikes. In the little houses and cramped apartments where the van stops, delivering hot meals and human contact to homebound elderly, Leiter's 95-mph fastball is not nearly as important as the size of his heart.

"He's not Al Leiter, major-league pitcher, to some of the people we're trying to help," said Alan Brown, the director of Leiter's Landing - Al and his wife Lori's organization. "He's Al, a guy who wants to help."

Leiter's tax bracket has changed, but his attitude has not. Growing up in a modest, middle-class section of Bayville, Berkeley Township, Leiter learned compassion from his mom Marie, who always seems to find room for one more at the table. One of Al's favorite Christmas memories is the time a bunch of state troopers who did not have anyone else to go to, came to the Leiters for dinner.

Now, armed with a four-year, $32 million contract and the priceless pull of a major-league baseball star, Al is taking that philosophy as far as he can.

"Let's face it, there are plenty of wealthier donors than me who give more money," Leiter said. "The thing I can bring is my status as a baseball player. That opens up doors. Maybe, it brings people out or draws more publicity to a cause."

Leiter always has thought stuff like that is part of his responsibility as a professional athlete.

"I don't understand how some athletes can say they're not a role model," Leiter said. "I hear it myself and I shake my head every time. You are. Whether you want to be or not, doesn't matter. You are a role model. That's the way it always has been and always probably will be. Kids look up to professional athletes.

"So why not try and set a positive example?"

Leiter remembers what was like to be a wide-eyed kid, following Mets ace Tom Seaver's every move. If Seaver wore his socks one way, little Al wanted to wear his socks the same way.

"Luckily, I picked a good guy," Leiter said. "Now, Leiter tries to make sure any kid who idolizes Big Game Al can say the same thing in 20 years."

When he signed his contract, he pledged to donate a $1 million to Leiter's Landing. There is already a new Little League baseball field in Bayville, that meals van and $25,000 worth of computers at five schools in the five boroughs.

"I've made a good living playing baseball," he said. "I wouldn't feel right if I didn't try to give some back. It's the right thing to do. I think everyone wants to be charitable. I think a lot of people just aren't sure they can make a difference.

"You walk past the Santa ringing the bell in the mall and wonder if you're $5 is really going to matter. I'm in a position where I'm lucky enough to be able to see the difference every little bit makes."

Most of Leiter's Landings charities are involved with are children's causes. Organizations such as Happiness in Camping (sending kids with life-threatening diseases to summer camp) and Kids in Distress (providing home, medical care and counseling for kids who have been abused, abandoned or neglected) hit home with Leiter.

The infant son of his older brother Mark died from a childhood form of Lou Gehrig's disease. His twin sister's son was born with only one kidney.

"Our family's been through a lot," Leiter said. "I've seen what a family with a sick child goes through."

Al and Lori try to make Leiter's Landing a family operation. Everything from the name (a notoriously nervous flyer, Al thought of it as a safe landing for kids) to the causes comes from the Leiters.

"They decide where every penny is going to go," Brown said. `A lot of athletes just give money and say you figure it out. Al wants to be part of every decision. He's not a figurehead. Leiter's Landing is Al and Lori."

Leiter went as far as going over the blueprints of the Little League field. Some day, he hopes his daughters will take over Leiter's Landing.

"I think the most important thing is actually getting out there, being involved," Leiter said. "The money's secondary. I get a thrill out of seeing the joy on kid's faces when they're just happy to see you.

"That's the fun part to me. Leiter's Landing is more important than anything I can do on the mound.