Published: June 11, 2007 10:49 pm         

Former ISU pitcher has role in upcoming ESPN series

TERRE HAUTE — Former Indiana State pitcher Aric LeClair has finally realized his ultimate dream of pitching in a major league baseball setting.

Well, not exactly. LeClair, in his seventh year as a minor league player, will portray famous New York Yankees closer Sparky Lyle in ESPN’s eight-week limited series “The Bronx is Burning,” set to air the last week of July.

The series is based on the best-selling non-fiction book “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning” by Jonathan Mahler. The book depicts the summer of 1977, the year the Yankees won their first World Series under the ownership of George Steinbrenner.

The plot revolves around the interaction between Steinbrenner (played by Oliver Platt), Billy Martin (John Turturro) and Reggie Jackson (Daniel Sunjata) plus subplots, including the NYPD’s pursuit of Son of Sam. Former Yankees Graig Nettles and Fran Healy served as consultants.

LeClair and two of his Nashua Pride teammates, Jason Kosow and Elliott Ayala, went to auditions in New London, Conn., following last season. “They went pretty well. Then it came down to who we most looked like,” LeClair said.

LeClair was cast as Lyle, Kosow as Catfish Hunter and Ayala as Roy White.

“The goal was to be Yankee players, because we’d get to be on the set every day. We were there for about four weeks,” LeClair noted.

None of the 20 “players” were supposed to have speaking parts, but one scene involving LeClair might make the final cut in editing, at the request of Turturro.

In that scene, LeClair has been summoned from the bullpen and was instructed for filming to “to do what I would normally say or do in that situation. I don’t know if it will end up on the cutting room floor,” he laughed.

Also, the bulge in his jaw in this scene is not tobacco, but a wad of raisins. LeClair doesn’t chew tobacco.

While he had the left-handed relief pitcher part down pat, the famous bushy mustache Lyle sported in his heyday was another story. LeClair admitted he needed a little assistance.

“I tried to grow one, but I don’t grow a mustache too well,” he said. “So they threw a mustache on me and they liked it. We just needed to look similar, since we were mostly in background scenes.”

Back in the real baseball world, LeClair, 29, is a model of perseverance. After playing at ISU in 1999 and 2000, he endured being cut by three major league organizations — twice by the same team — and has lost more than a full season because of rotator cuff surgery.

LeClair, a native of New Hampshire, came to be a Sycamore after playing at Crowder Junior College in Neosho, Mo.

“[Pitching] coach [Shohn] Doty got me to ISU, but he was gone when I got there,” LeClair noted.

After a solid 2000 season at ISU, LeClair was drafted in the 19th round of the major league amateur draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“I got the opportunity, I couldn’t let it pass,” he said of his decision to sign with the D-backs. “I wasn’t locked down to a girl or a certain place. So I took the $1,000 and the plane ticket.”

LeClair pitched for South Bend (Class A) in 2000 and 2001, but “going into spring training [2002] I never really got an opportunity to play. [The Diamondbacks] gave me a bad vibe. Then they released me. It was a business decision I had to learn the hard way,” he said.

Undeterred, LeClair went the independent route to Albany-Colonie of the Northern League. Soon after, the Kansas City Royals came to see him pitch and signed him the next day.

With the Royals, LeClair finished 2002 with Burlington (Class A), then began 2003 with Wilmington (higher Class A). Then the unexpected happened again. On Aug. 8, 2003, he was traded by the Royals back to the D-backs for journeyman right-handed pitcher Paul Abbott.

“My thoughts were mixed at first, thinking they didn’t care about me the first time. But then I got fired up,” LeClair recalled. “I looked at it as a highlight to be traded for a major league guy.”

Back with the D-backs, he finished 2003 at El Paso (AA), then split time in 2004 between El Paso and South Bend.

“I started having pains in my shoulder in 2004. The doctor said to just fight through it and it will loosen up. I rehabbed, rehabbed and after a couple of [magnetic resonance imaging tests] they found I had a 20-percent tear in my rotator cuff.”

Instead of his plan to have already reached the Triple-A level, he underwent surgery in May of 2005.

“I had a lot of setbacks [after surgery] and was six months behind in my rehab … I almost retired in 2006,” he stated. “I could only throw 45 feet. Then I got a second opinion. I changed my arm slot and it got better.

“When I was finally released by the doctor, the Diamondbacks released me. I won’t forget the date. May 16, 2006.”

At the age of 28, LeClair returned to his native New Hampshire to begin anew with the Nashua Pride of the independent Cam-Am League midway through the 2006 season.

“They threw me right in there,” he said. “They gave me a shot and it helped to have a local kid for the fan base. Being home on weekends was good too.”

LeClair was traded by Nashua to the Camden Riversharks of the independent Atlantic League prior to this season. After only three games with Camden, he was “received” by an Atlantic League-run team, the Road Warriors, on May 15.

“Every three days we’re out on the road,” he said of the “homeless” Road Warriors. “Sometimes we get to games in a school bus … independent ball at its best,” he chuckles.

“Without a doubt, this is my last hurrah,” LeClair said of his future in baseball. “Unless I get back to form and get signed by a major league organization,”

LeClair currently resides in Marlborough, N.H., with his wife of four years, Holly, and their 14-month-old son Lane.