Members of 2001 Mets refl ect on their role
BY JOE PANTORNO
The tears along the tapestry
that is the history of the United
States are stark and unpleasant
— ranging from a Civil War to
natural disasters, pandemics
and attacks on home soil, to
name just a few. Through the
years, baseball has become so
ingrained in American culture
that it has been looked upon
to heal the nation during hard
times.
This Sept. 11 marks the 20th
anniversary of the worst terrorist
attack conducted upon
American shores as nearly
3,000 people were killed in a
calculated assault carried out
by al-Qaeda. Two planes struck
the twin towers of the World
Trade Center in New York City;
a third plane hit the Pentagon
just outside Washington, D.C.;
and a fourth plane was heroically
forced down in Shanksville,
PA.
As a nation came to terms
with the shock of the unthinkable
happening in their proverbial
backyards, mourning
the loss of thousands, and the
seemingly insurmountable
task of trying to recover, baseball
once again was not too far
behind to help — ever so slightly
— alleviate the pain that is
still felt so deeply by so many
two decades later.
And the New York Mets led
the way.
Confusion
Following a mostly difficult
August, the defending National
League champion Mets were
surging at the right time in
hopes of nabbing a spot in the
2001 playoffs. After taking two
of three from the then-Florida
Marlins, the Mets had won 10 of
their last 12 and traveled from
Miami to Pittsburgh on Sept. 10
for a three-game set against the
Pirates.
“We get to Pittsburgh
around 3 in the morning
and when you travel, you go
straight from the airport to
the hotel and check-in, go to
your room and go to sleep,”
said Edgardo Alfonzo, Mets
Hall of Famer and the team’s
second baseman in 2001. “My
wife knew that every time we
traveled, we get in early in the
morning. So it surprised me
when she called at like, 9 in the
morning.”
“‘Put the news on. Something
happened,’” Alfonzo recounted
his wife telling him.
The first plane had just
struck the North Tower of the
World Trade Center.
“I turned on the TV and
I caught the news between
the first and second airplane
strikes,” said former first baseman
Todd Zeile, who was two
days removed from his 36th
birthday at the time. “At first,
it seemed like a really bizarre,
random story of a plane out of
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.4 COM | SEPT. 10 - SEPT. 16, 2021
its flight path ending up in the
tower, and then watching live
as the second one struck, it
became a totally different feeling.”
So sunk in the reality that
the United States was under attack.
“It was a feeling of confusion,
a feeling of dread. I don’t
think anyone really anticipated
at that time what was going
on. It was ‘wait, how is this
possible?’” Zeile said. “There’s
confusion when you’ve grown
up without that kind of activity
on your own shore and I
think that was, to me, what
resonated. We’ve heard about
terrorist activity all over the
world but it never has been at
home.
“And it was literally at
home. I was living in New York
and a part of this Mets team
and I felt a part of this city.”
So did most of the Mets,
most particularly pitchers
John Franco, from Brooklyn,
and Al Leiter, from Toms River,
NJ.
“Johnny tried calling home.
The line was out. The service
was off completely,” Alfonzo
said. “It was scary.”
While glued to their television
sets at the Westin Hotel,
which was connected to the
William S. Moorhead Federal
Building, it was discovered
that Flight 93 — which took off
from Newark, NJ — veered off
course and was heading toward
the Pittsburgh area, prompting
the Mets to evacuate from the
hotel.
“We went to a hotel up in
the mountains and we were
wondering, ‘What are we going
to do here?’” Alfonzo said. “So
we were waiting to see what the
next move was for us.”
Over the next hour, the towers
collapsed, Flight 77 crashed
into the Pentagon and Flight
93 went down in that field in
Shanksville.
Finding their way home
With the airports shut
down, the Mets were able to get
a pair of busses on the night
of Sept. 11 to take them back
to New York — a trip that will
forever stick in the minds of
every player and staff member
on board.
“I remember being quiet
and generally MLB bus rides
aren’t quiet,” starting pitcher
Glendon Rusch, who was 26 at
the time, said. “Many of the
times we travel, everyone has
a pretty good time, but this one
was quiet. Very somber and
everyone was in disbelief … I
don’t think anyone knew how
to handle that situation with us
being in our 20s and 30s.”
“There had been talking
on the way home that was different
than anything ever discussed
on a major-league or
minor-league bus ride,” Zeile
added. “I think the camaraderie
that was building, and then
we got to the bridge.”
The George Washington
Bridge provides one of the most
breathtaking views of lower
Manhattan but as the sevenhour
trip entered the heart
of New York City at roughly
2 a.m., only more weight was
added to the gravity of the situation.
“I remember seeing fire
and smoke and wreckage from
a distance,” Rusch said. “That
area was kind of aglow with
fire and orange … Very sad to
see what was going on and it
only got worse once we really
took in the magnitude of what
was happening.”
Getting to work
Shea Stadium, the former
home of the Mets, was just 16
miles away from Ground Zero
and was viewed as a vital landmark
with the space and capac-
Members of the New York Mets bow their heads during a moment of silence for the victims of the
Sept. 11 attacks, prior to the Mets’ game against the Atlanta Braves on Sept. 21, 2001. The game was
the first baseball game to be held in New York since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon on Sept. 11. REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine RFS/HB