"Nine Innings From Ground Zero"; September 11th, 2001 - A Day to Never Be Forgotten

Let's take a break from sports blogging, crunching numbers, and catching up on MLB Wild Card Races  for a quick second to remember to event's that took place in the United States of America on this day just twelve short years ago.

To sum it up I'll quote a man I consider a personal hero;

"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundations of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."- George W Bush.

Some people say everything happens for a reason, and I never really fully agree with that term. But this morning I experienced something quite ironic.

Over the last few day's I've been reading Core Four: The Heart and Soul of The Yankees Dynasty by Phil Pepe. This morning on the subway and on my way into lower Manhattan I embarked upon Chapter 12, titled "Say It Isn't So Mo."

Ironically, this chapter talks about the 2001 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees. On page 83 of the chapter Pepe reflected on Game 3 on the World Series at Yankees Stadium, where he writes;

"The pre game pageantry of Game 3 of the World Series on the night of October 30, 2001, stirred emotions like never before. The customary red, white, and blue bunting that decorated Yankee Stadium never had such a meaning. Exactly seven weeks to the day earlier, terrorist had leveled both towers of the World Trade Center, some 10 miles away in lower Manhattan, killing thousands and throwing the city, and the nation, into a panic, and mourning. 

In an effort to ease the tension, President George W. Bush, a lifelong baseball fan and a former owner of the Texas Rangers, accepted Major League Baseball's invitation to throw out the first pitch. Security in an around the stadium was tight, but the president would be vulnerable, standing alone and unprotected on the pitcher's mound. He would not, by his own choosing, be wearing the bulletproof vest that had been provided for him. The president was a baseball purest and he reasoned that the vest would interfere with his goal to throw a perfect strike to Yankees, backup catcher, Todd Greene."

At just nine years old, watching that moment live on national television signified that as a nation we were 'ok'. It told me that no matter what evil comes across the United States of America, United We Will Always Stand.

I think coming across that part of the book on this exact date was a sign that I should share this with you all. 

God Bless America.