Put me in, mayor – I’m ready to play, today.
Mayor Bloomberg played a key role in the Yankees trading for fan favorite and fellow Republican Al Leiter, making personal pitches to both the left-handed hurler and team brass to get a deal done, The Post has learned.
Hours after the Florida Marlins designated Leiter for assignment, Hizzoner got on his cellphone late Friday afternoon to encourage Leiter – whose 19-season career started with the Yankees in 1987 – and team president Randy Levine to broker an agreement.
“I hear Al’s available,” Bloomberg said to Levine, a source close to the mayor told The Post. “Wouldn’t it be great if you guys could bring him back to New York?
“Leiter would be a great addition to the Yankees,” Bloomberg added, according to another source.
After that five- to 10-minute chat, Bloomberg dialed the just-jilted Leiter in Florida.
The mayor said, “I don’t know what your next move is, but New York would welcome you back with open arms,” a source recalled.
To avoid potential Major League Baseball tampering issues, Bloomberg did not tell Levine or Leiter about the calls made to the other party.
While the Yankees immediately got in touch with the Marlins when Leiter became available, a source close to negotiations said Bloomberg was “helpful in getting the deal done from both sides of the agreement.”
The deal became official yesterday afternoon when the Yankees and the Marlins signed off on the deal.
Leiter is expected to make his second Yankee debut against the hated Boston Red Sox tonight at Fenway Park.
The Yankees sent $400,000 to Florida toward the remaining $2.8 million on Leiter’s contract, which the Marlins will continue to pay.
Leiter, who’s been nothing short of a disaster with the Marlins this season, gets a chance to resuscitate his career playing for a perennial World Series contender, while the injury-plagued Bombers get a desperately needed starting pitcher.
And Bloomberg, who isn’t exactly thought of as a sports enthusiast, hits a home run with voters by helping to sign an enormously popular ballplayer on both sides of town.
Although Leiter broke in with the Yankees, he made his mark in a Mets uniform.
As the heart, soul and guts of a team that played well beyond its abilities, Leiter led the Mets to a Subway Series showdown with the Yanks in 2000, a series that the team from Flushing dropped four games to one.
The Bloomberg-Leiter relationship has spanned four years.
The southpaw campaigned for Bloomberg in 2001 and served as the emcee at the mayor’s inauguration.
The 39-year-old Toms River, N.J., native added some much-needed star power to last summer’s Republican National Convention, appearing with then-teammate Tom Glavine at the Time Warner Center opening-night media gala.
In turn, Bloomberg pledged his support to Leiter should the pitcher make good on rumors he’ll run for office on the GOP line when his playing days are over.
“He’d make a great elected official,” Bloomberg said last November while the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce was honoring Leiter. “He’s a leader.”
Additional reporting by George King in Boston