Mets, Yankees show meaning of ‘Never Forget’ with 9/11 ceremony on 20th anniversary

Baseball, in many ways, took a backseat on Saturday night.

Not only at Citi Field, where a pregame ceremony for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 — littered with former Mets — sent a jam-packed stadium deep into their emotions, but also in the minds of those who had to take the field afterward.

“Today is obviously an extremely emotional day, not just for us players and everyone here in New York, but a very emotional day in a lot of ways for the entire country,” Pete Alonso began his pregame Zoom. “Today is a day of remembrance. There’s still people being impacted every single day. Going to Ground Zero (on Saturday) was really an emotional rollercoaster for me. It was a very sobering sight.”

Alonso was followed by Mike Piazza, whose game-winning home run in the Mets’ return to Shea Stadium following the attacks is perhaps the most poignant moment in the history of the franchise. Piazza is forever linked to that moment, something he wears as proudly as he wore the blue and orange.

“It means a lot to me,” Piazza said of the home run. “It’ll always be with me. It’ll be on my Hall of Fame plaque even when I’m gone.”

Several of Piazza’s teammates from that game were in attendance for Saturday’s ceremony. From Al Leiter to Jay Payton, John Franco to Rey Ordoñez, being a part of the first major sporting event in New York City after the attacks is a moment forever etched in their brain, no matter how much it felt like a scene from a feel-good Disney film.

“If we were to make a movie and you’d say, ‘Okay, who’s going to hit the home run? Let’s make it Mike Piazza, the superstar home run hitter,” Leiter laughed. “How about the guy who starts against the Mets grows up in Staten Island? Jason Marquis. Then the guy who gives up the home run, Steve Karsay, grew up right over here in College Point.’ If you were reading that script you’d say, ‘Nah, we gotta jumble this up a little bit.’ The crescendo of all of that, it almost felt unreal how it played out.”

The Mets’ starting shortstop in that game shared a common idea, that the feeling of playing a baseball game after such an unfathomable tragedy hung over everything, at least until Piazza made contact in the eighth inning.

“That day, there was a really exciting buzz in the stadium,” Ordoñez said. “It was strange because we were in the city and there were so many people that we lost in the city. It was exciting for us to give back to the fans that were going through a hard time.”

All of the returning members of the 2001 team were part of Saturday’s pregame pageantry in some way. Franco and Leiter escorted members of the Ground Zero recovery team onto the field. Piazza stood with NYPD officers as Lenny Harris and Steve Trachsel joined Energy Management. Glendon Rusch and Jay Payton were on the field with personnel from the Sanitation Department; Ordonez and Edgardo Alfonzo with State Supreme Court Officers. Bobby Valentine, the manager of that 2001 team, joined Joe Torre for a joint first pitch, with Valentine’s unique sense of humor jumping out when he faked like he was going to throw from the mound. It got a hearty laugh from a crowd who seemed to need it.

Saturday was a night that could make even the most stone-faced, the ones most disillusioned by America’s last 20 years, feel a tinge of pride for the stars and stripes. Stirring renditions of America the Beautiful and the Star Spangled Banner (by Anais Reno and NYC Pal Cops & Kids, respectively), were the final cherries on top. Members of the Mets and Yankees even stood together on the foul lines — rather than opposite each other — before coming together for unifying hugs and handshakes.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing that we continue to honor (the victims),” Piazza said. “What I’ve really enjoyed is the community coming together. The day always has a certain amount of reverence. It takes on solemnity, I guess is the word.”

The phrase “Never Forget” was on full display in the stadium, plastered on the Citi Field scoreboard and homemade signs that fans held aloft. Rather than letting that become an empty platitude, though, members of the 2001 Mets are doing all they can not to forget, both in their internal thoughts and externally as they answered questions about that unforgettable night 20 years ago.

“Never forget what happened: we were attacked,” Payton emphasized. “You remember the scenes for people who had to jump out of the buildings. That’s always something that stuck with me. People who didn’t want to burn that had to jump to their death. At the end of the day you have to remember that we’re all one, stand together as one, and fight as one.”

“I live a block from Ground Zero,” Franco explained. “Thinking of all the kids who never got to see their mom or their dad again, and now they’re all grown up — I’m sure there will be a bunch of them here tonight. The downtown area does the ceremony every year. It’s nice that they never forget what happened.”

Anyone at Citi Field on September 11, 2021 surely won’t forget the scene there any time soon.