WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 9, 2021 23
in helping New York City recover from 9/11
of victims,” Zeile said. “Essentially, a
morgue — a holding center for the recovery
eff ort because of some specifi c
things that were a part of Shea in terms
of refrigeration and so on.”
As days passed, however, it became
clear that there were no bodies to
recover.
While players and staff alike took
time to go home and check on their
families, Mets manager Bobby Valentine
was determined to use his team as
a vehicle to help as fi rst responders and
rescue workers excavating the site.
Players unloaded supplies ranging
from work boots, water bottles and
batteries; packed boxes; and stocked
up trucks that would be sent to Ground
Zero.
“There were a lot of Mets fans in that
situation and you want to give back to
them what you give back to you — the
love. You want to help them out at that
moment,” Alfonzo said. “That was really
hard, really sad.”
In an attempt to boost morale, Zeile,
along with Mike Piazza, Robin Ventura,
Franco and Leiter went to Ground Zero
to visit those fi rst responders — entering
a restricted zone of the city that
encapsulated a 30-to-40-block radius.
“I remember feeling this feeling of
panic in a sense of ‘Why am I here?
What do these people want to see me
for?’” Zeile wondered. “I felt it was
almost invasive. A guy that plays baseball
for a job is coming in with another
group of guys that play baseball as a job.
To think that we can understand even
for a second what these guys are going
through, I felt a little nervous about being
invasive into their world and what
they were going through.”
BACK TO BASEBALL
There had been mixed sentiments
from even some players on whether
or not Major League Baseball should
continue the 2001 season aft er Sept. 11,
but one resounding voice helped ease
any uncertainties.
“At fi rst, I thought the season would
end at that time, but then President
George Bush said let’s get back to playing,”
Alfonzo said. “That moment was
like, wow, this is going to be hard, but
let’s play baseball.”
Even more diffi cult was that the Mets
had to go back to Pittsburgh to resume
their series against the Pirates from
Sept. 17-19 aft er nearly a week of trying
to help New York through the aft ermath
of its worst moments.
They took a bit of their Big Apple family
with them, though, as Zeile famously
traded a “hat for a hat,” receiving a navy
blue FDNY hat from the son and the widow
of a rescue worker who died at the
World Trade Center just days earlier. It
sparked a movement that saw the Mets
don the caps of all the fi rst-responder
branches, including the FDNY and
NYPD.
“That became a tiny little symbolic
gesture that this team was able to put
forward for our appreciation of what
those guys were doing while we were
getting ready to play baseball again,”
Zeile said.
Rusch, who started the third game
of Mets’ series in Pittsburgh noted
how warm the away fans welcomed his
team, and how pitching in the fi rst two
innings of it was such a challenge.
“It really challenged every bit of what
we did as players to focus on what was
on the baseball fi eld,” he said. “It really
was diffi cult. I don’t remember anything
that was as challenging as trying to take
your focus off of what was going on in
the world then and in our city and our
country and focus on playing a baseball
game. That was a challenge in itself.
“I think at that time, I don’t know if
everybody was really that hyped to
start playing again. I think we wanted
to play just to give us a break, but it was
a diffi cult transition.”
SHEA HEALING
Baseball eventually returned to New
York on the night of Sept. 21 at Shea Stadium,
just 10 days aft er the attacks.
“I think we all had some questions
about whether or not people would
feel comfortable showing up,” Zeile said.
“It’s right next to LaGuardia Airport.
There’s all the fear of airplanes, another
attack — all those things that were permeating
throughout the country.
“Once we knew Mayor Rudy Giuliani
and the city and the authorities felt like
we were in a position that we could be
safe and make a symbolic gesture to be
back on the fi eld and I think we were all
ready for it.”
If there was any fear from the fans,
it was not noticed. Rusch described
the atmosphere as “electric,” as Diana
Ross and Liza Minelli sang the national
anthem and ‘God Bless America,’
throughout an evening that allowed
New Yorkers to let loose, even if just
for a moment.
“I think it was a huge part in helping
to heal people. That was cool,” Rusch
said. “We all felt proud that we were
back and giving those people who had
a lot of bad stuff going on in their life a
bit of an escape.”
“You wanted to cry, you wanted to
hug people, you wanted to applaud the
fans,” Alfonzo added. “All those fans
cheering, chanting ‘USA, USA’ … and
all this against the Braves? Our rival?
That was amazing.”
But the Mets, who at the time were 4.5
games behind the Braves in the NL East,
found themselves trailing 2-1 heading
into the bottom of the eighth aft er Brian
Jordan smacked a run-scoring double in
the top half of the frame.
“The rest, you can say is serendipitous
history,” Zeile said.
With one out against reliever Steve
Karsay, Alfonzo walked and was pinchrun
for by Desi Relaford, though speed
on the basepaths would not matter as
Piazza hit one of the most famous home
runs in New York baseball history — a
two-run shot to center fi eld to put the
Mets up for good.
“We did that,” Alfonzo said. “Aft er I
got a pinch-runner for me aft er I walked
and I was on the bench and I saw Mike
hit that ball out, what else could you ask
for?”
In terms of a storybook baseball fi nish,
not much.
It was the most memorable moment
of a Mets season that ultimately ended
short of making the playoff s. Meanwhile,
it took years for the cleanup of
Ground Zero to truly feel complete,
though the emotional scars will never
be erased.
Yes, in the grand scheme of things, it’s
just a game. But in a city like New York,
it’s an institution, a family, a place to
heal.
Fans at Shea Stadium in New York hold up signs prior to the Mets’ game
on Sept. 21, 2001. This was the fi rst baseball game to be held in New
York since the attacks on the World Trade Center. REUTERS/Mike Segar
/WWW.QNS.COM
