September 11, 2001 is a day every American will remember in their own way. Nothing will truly take away that pain away, however, there are certain things that will help heal. Baseball is one of those things. America’s pastime is a beautiful sport and gave people all around an escape. As a country, we haven’t seen something that devastating. On what was supposed to be a normal day in our lives, turned out to be a real life nightmare.
When we think of baseball connected to that tragic day, we think of two main events. President George Bush throwing out the first pitch at Yankee stadium in game 3 of that years World Series and Mike Piazza’s home run in the first game played after 9/11. Those two events connect the Bronx and Queens as one.
Twenty Years Later
Two days ago, the Yankees traveled to their cross town rivals, the New York Mets. This late into the season, the Yankees and Mets both were desperately in need of some more wins to crawl back into their respective contention. The longtime New York rivals, came together and united as one New York. The game wasn’t about who won or who lost, it seemed nobody gave that a thought. Everybody came together and was there for America.
The beginning of that beautiful night started with a ceremony surrounded by men and women who serve in the NYPD and the FDNY. As the national anthem was being played, the Yankees and Mets combined their teams in front of the dugouts and stood as one. Fans with tears running down their faces and chants of “USA” filling the stadium was an amazing sight. Everything that was planned went as perfect as it could. After the pregame plans, it was time for the game and it did not disappoint.
Going into the game you just had the idea that these guys were ready to put their city on their back and play as hard as they could. The story on the Yankees side of play was none other than Aaron Judge. Judge blasted two home runs and made a great catch on defense to give Aroldis Chapman some breathing room in the 9th. As for the Mets, the story was James McCann. The Mets catcher hit a sac-fly as well as a huge home run to give the Mets a 1-run lead. The game seemed to truly be scripted to perfection. A game that was filled with exciting moments all in front of a sold out Citi Field. Ending with a victory going to Aaron Judge and the Bronx Bombers.
One of the best moments of the night was walking out of Citi Field, having your heart filled with all sorts of emotions and seeing those two blue beams heading into the sky, representing where those towers stood just twenty years ago.
We Will Never Forget
After heading home, no matter if you were a Yankee or Met fan, you went to bed proud. Proud of the beautiful city we are all connected to. The game of baseball connects people. No matter who you are, what you believe in, or how you choose to live your life. It’s truly a wonderful thing. As we have these feelings in our hearts on September 11th, we must never forget that tragic day. I will never be able to write my true emotions down as they are too great to put into words. I will leave you with this, never forget that day and always remember to tell your loved ones how much you love them.