22 SEPTEMBER 9, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Members of 2001 Mets refl ect on their role
BY JOE PANTORNO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
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 diffi cult August,
the defending National League champion
Mets were surging at the right
time in hopes of nabbing a spot in the
2001 playoff s. Aft er 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 fi rst 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 fi rst, it seemed like a really
bizarre, random story of a plane out
of its fl ight path ending up in the tower,
and then watching live as the second
one struck, it became a totally diff erent
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 fi eld in Shanksville.
“We were thinking, ‘Is this really
this widespread and calculated?’” Zeile
wondered. “For the rest of that morning,
day and into the night, we were wondering
if there were other things that were
going to happen and there was a feeling
of nervousness and confusion.
“You couldn’t take your eyes off the
screen thinking of the devastation that
occurred and how we were going to recover
from it. There was also an element
of confusion of ‘where were we going to
go?’ ‘How were we going to get there?’”
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 diff erent 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
seven-hour 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 fi re and smoke
and wreckage from a distance,” Rusch
said. “That area was kind of aglow with
fi re 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 capacity
to help relief eff orts.
“I think a lot of people aren’t aware
but initially, Shea Stadium was set
up as a triage center for the recovery
Members of the New York Mets bow their heads during a moment of
silence for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine RFS/HB
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