Home to heal
Piazza jersey moving from Hall to 9/11 Museum in Sept.
The Mike Piazza 9/11 jersey is coming home for this most somber time of the year.
Anthony Scaramucci, who purchased the jersey along with his partners Tony Lauto and Jim McCann for $365,000 in April, announced the jersey will be on display at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum beginning Sept. 7 and will remain there through the end of next March.
“For all of us this is a somber day of remembrance and it goes down as one of the saddest days in my life,’’ Scaramucci told The Post on Thursday. “However, what the jersey represents is the grittiness of the entire city and it was personified by Mike on the evening of [Sept.] 21.’’
That was the night Piazza blasted his iconic home run that beat the Braves and lifted the spirits of a city in tears in the first game back in New York after the terrorist attacks, one of the most sacred sports moments in the city’s history. Scaramucci was at that game.
“We had some people with us that night,’’ he said of 9/11 family members. “We had two children with me that night whose father did not come home on the 11th.
“With that home run, Mike created renewal,’’ said Scaramucci, who is the founder of Skybridge Capital and, along with Lauto, also has a small ownership stake in the Mets. “The home run was hit and the house rocked.’’
Next month, on Sept. 21, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum is planning a special event “in celebration of that home run, and the revival of New York,’’ Scaramucci said.
“This jersey belongs to New York and will be accessible to the public,’’ Lauto said. It will not have one permanent home. “That jersey is in the possession of the fans and the people of the city of New York forever and we are rotating it between the 9/11 Museum, Cooperstown and Citi Field and we are trying to move it to those areas when it is peak visitation in those areas so everybody can see it,’’ Scaramucci added.
The jersey, signed by Piazza, had been on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame for Piazza’s induction last month. A number of other items are also featured in the display. The jersey was purchased in April by the group, long after the Mets had sold it off with other 9/11 memorabilia.
At the time of the purchase, Scaramucci told The Post, “We had too many friends die in those buildings to let this jersey go anywhere else.’’