MLB commemorates 9/11 anniversary with ballpark ceremonies
NEW YORK — In a way, Don Mattingly was about as far from the hustle and bustle of downtown New York City as an ex-ballplayer could be on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
The former New York Yankees captain was cleaning out stalls on his horse farm in Indiana when he heard the horrible news on the radio: Two planes had crashed into the Twin Towers in Manhattan, destroying the World Trade Center landmarks and undoubtedly killing thousands of people. So he went inside. “I felt like I watched TV for like three weeks straight,” Mattingly said. “Just couldn’t take my eyes off the TV.” Within a month, he returned to New York for a visit. “Unbelievable,” he recalled. “Devastating.” Mattingly, now managing the Miami Marlins, was back in New York on Tuesday as Major League Baseball once again commemorated the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks with ceremonies at ballparks all across the country.
A moment of silence to honor victims and first responders was held before every game. Players, coaches and umpires wore caps with a “We Shall Not Forget” ribbon patch, and MLB planned to donate all royalties from the sales of those hats to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the Pentagon Memorial Fund and the Flight 93 National Memorial.
At Citi Field in New York, where the Mets hosted the Marlins, more than 100 representatives from the New York Police Department, Fire Department of New York, Port Authority Police Department, New York City Office of Emergency Management and the City of New York Department of Sanitation lined up in full uniform along the warning track and baselines.
Players and coaches from both teams stood alongside, interspersed between them, and shook hands before the national anthem was performed by NYPD police officer Makiah Brown.