NEW YORK I Two-time World Series champion Jim Leyritz knows the highest of highs and the lowest of lows – in life and in baseball.

The former New York Yankees postseason hero is fondly remembered for hitting a three-run homer in the 1996 Fall Classic that started the run of championships by the Joe Torre-managed Bronx Bombers in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Following an 11-year Major League Baseball career that included a series of memorable playoff moments, Leyritz was involved in a fatal traffic accident. Police charged Leyritz with vehicular manslaughter. A jury acquitted him nearly three years later, finding him guilty only of driving while intoxicated.   

"Most people remember me for two events, both of which tested my faith in different ways," said Leyritz, who is set to speak with student-athletes from the Skyline Conference at Sarah Lawrence College on Sunday, October 15 at 1 p.m. as part of the league's fall Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) event.

"I controlled one; the other, I did not," Leyritz added. "I was in control of the home run I hit in the 1996 World Series against the Atlanta Braves, which turned the series around for the New York Yankees and eventually led them to their first world championship in eighteen years. I was not in control of the 2007 car accident in which I was involved that resulted in the tragic loss of a woman's life … I decided that I would not let my life be defined by either of these moments."

Leyritz will speak about the life-changing moment and his professional and personal highs and lows to the Skyline Conference next month at the Barbara Walters Campus Center. 

For more information, contact SkylineConferenceSports@gmail.com.