John William Leister (born January 3, 1961) is a former

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. He has also been a baseball and football coach.

Playing career

Listed at 6' 2", 200 lb., Leister batted and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

. Signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 1984 he was originally drafted by the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

out of high school in

Great Falls, Montana Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...

. Leister's baseball career was delayed as he accepted a football scholarship at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

in the fall of 1979. At MSU he was the starting quarterback for three years and set multiple passing records that have since been surpassed. The terms of his football scholarship did not allow him to play baseball until the completion of his football eligibility. After pitching for the Spartans his senior year, he was drafted again in 1983 by the

Oakland A's The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

. Instead Leister tried out as

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

, who later cut him at the end of training camp, opting to keep

Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...

, who had undergone an off-season elbow surgery, for his final season. It is said that he outbenched Bradshaw at a spring workout. Bradshaw played in only one game in the 1983, when he suffered a career-ending injury after only his eighth pass of the season. Leister also was drafted and was briefly a member of the

Michigan Panthers The Michigan Panthers were a professional American football team based in the Detroit, Michigan area. The Panthers competed in the United States Football League (USFL) as a member of the Western Conference and Central Division. The team played i ...

of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL), but left the team to play professional baseball with the Red Sox. He played five seasons in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

for Winter Haven (1984),

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

(1985), Pawtucket (1987, 1988–1990), and two for the Red Sox (1987, 1990). In a two-season major league career, Leister posted a 0-2 record with 19

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s and an 8.50

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

in 36.0 innings of work. Leister was known to his fans as "The Mullet Man".

Coaching career

Following his professional career, Leister graduated from Michigan State University and began to coach at

Alma College Alma College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Alma, Michigan. It enrolls approximately 1,400 students and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Alma College is affiliat ...

, an MIAA member located in

Alma, Michigan Alma is the largest city in Gratiot County, Michigan, Gratiot County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,383 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It was incorporated as the Village of Alma in 1872 and became a city in 1905 ...

. In 1994, he became Alma's assistant football and assistant baseball coach. In 1997, he became the head baseball coach for the Scots, and led the Scots to the 1999 MIAA title, their first league title since 1987. He served as the offensive coordinator for the Scots football team for many years before retiring from the position before the 2012 season.goalmascots.com He led the offense to many record-breaking seasons after arriving at Alma, helping the Scots to three MIAA football championships (1999, 2002, 2004). Leister was most recently the athletic director at Alma College, a position he accepted in 2007 and resigned from in 2014. He now is the offensive coordinator and head varsity baseball coach at Chesaning Union High School.

References

External links

, o
Baseball Almanac
o
Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leister, John 1961 births Living people Alma Scots athletic directors Alma Scots baseball coaches Alma Scots football coaches Baseball coaches from Texas American football quarterbacks Baseball players from San Antonio Boston Red Sox players Major League Baseball pitchers Michigan State Spartans baseball players Michigan State Spartans football players Michigan State University alumni New Britain Red Sox players Pawtucket Red Sox players Players of American football from San Antonio Sportspeople from Great Falls, Montana Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Winter Haven Red Sox players