Aaron Judge is back with Yankees: How big will his impact be?
Bob Nightengale breaks down Aaron Judge’s return to the Yankees and how much of a difference the superstar slugger can make down the stretch.
Sports Seriously
Twenty-five years ago, Victor Saracini was on United 175 when it hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Patrick McGuire was working on the 84th floor of the same tower.
Their kids didn’t know each other yet. Brielle Saracini, whose father had been the plane’s pilot, and Sean McGuire met years later, as grieving 10-year-olds, at a camp for children who lost a parent on Sept. 11, 2001. They later fell in love, got married, and Friday night, they threw out the first pitch together at Yankee Stadium.
The whole night, with the Yankees and Mets playing each other, was built around the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that hit 13 miles south of the stadium, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing 2,977. The Yankees planned a pre-game ceremony with honor guards from the NYPD, FDNY and Port Authority Police, plus a group of 2001 Yankees alumni.
Current players laid a wreath at the 9/11 memorial in Monument Park earlier in the day. A giant flag covered the outfield for the anthem, sung by the opera tenor James Valenti, with Lee Greenwood following him with “God Bless America.” FDNY Lt. William Arce gets the seventh-inning stretch. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation and Tuesday’s Promise are being honored too.
The Mets and Yankees have been tied to 9/11 for 25 years
Days after the attacks, Shea Stadium reopened not as a ballpark, but as a supply hub as players packed boots, water and batteries onto trucks bound for Ground Zero with volunteers. Then, on Sept. 21, Mike Piazza’s eighth-inning homer beat Atlanta 3-2, the first game back in New York. Six weeks later, the Yankees hosted President George W. Bush’s ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the World Series.
The 25th anniversary in the Bronx
The Yankees prepared the field just as they did in 2001 when baseball returned and they played their first game back.
Members of the 2001 New York Yankees are in the Bronx to commemorate 25 years since 9/11.
The nation anthem was dedicated to Valenti’s father and a friend who died on 9/11.
The Yankees and Mets continue to support 9/11 charities 25 years later.