Jesse Orosco's magical flying glove, the one that seemingly defied gravity and never came down after the Met reliever flung it into the air in triumph at the conclusion of both the league playoffs and the World Series last year, is enchanted after all.

It may be recalled that George Vecsey raised the question of the glove's mysterious properties in a Sports of The Times column on Monday. After studying tapes of the two clinching games, he noted that the glove had clearly gone up in the air but just as clearly had never come down on the pile of celebrating Mets. That the mitt did in fact come down - somewhere out of camera range - seemed obvious. ''I got the glove back,'' Orosco told Vecsey, ''that's all I know.''

Not quite. What Orosco knew, but wouldn't tell, is that the glove is continuing to work its magic - by buoying the spirits of a New York City police officer, Steven McDonald, who was paralyzed by a gunman's bullet in Central Park last year.

According to Bernie Bennett, a New York public relations man, the story of the glove's latest enchantment began Dec. 12, when Orosco attended the police Honor Legion's annual Christmas party for the wives and children of slain police officers at O'Neill's restaurant in Maspeth, Queens, a Bennett client. Orosco, a friend of the restaurant's owner, George O'Neill, had already revealed a humanitarian streak, Bennett notes, by delaying a trip to his Florida home so that he could attend the party as its only celebrity guest. He revealed even more when he heard of McDonald's ordeal and learned that the officer was an avid Met fan who would be thrilled by a visit from him.