Steve Karsay on Mike Piazza's post-9 11 home run

Table of Content

• Probe into Saturday Schenectady blaze ongoing; Seven people displaced, structure demolished (with video)
• For Siena women, it’s back to square one
• Piazza's post-9/11 homer: 15 years ago
• Memories of tears, cheers and Mike Piazza’s Amazin’ home run after 9/11
• Members of 2001 Mets share their stories during '9/11: The Mets Remember'

"That night was one of the great honors of my life." I don’t know of anybody who wasn’t changed by 9/11. Life is fragile and precious and can be snatched at any moment.

The cheers began to build, as another solemn march formed — dozens of firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and other civil-servant heroes of the city, taking their places next to the sailors to lay their hands on Old Glory. "Should we be here? Is it too soon? We had a lot of trepidation, we had a lot of anxiety," Mets’ catcher Mike Piazza told WCBS this week. "Terrorism was still prevalent in our minds, was still on our thoughts. A lot of the fear of the unknown. We didn't know what was gonna happen, we didn't know what the feeling would be." The Atlanta Braves 2001 roster included future Hall of Fame inductees Bobby Cox , Chipper Jones, Greg Maddox, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, who also pitched for the Mets later in his 300-win career. "I didn't want to see that jersey leave New York," Scaramucci says. Karsay threw hard, and opened with a fastball down the middle for a called strike.

Probe into Saturday Schenectady blaze ongoing; Seven people displaced, structure demolished (with video)

Most of the 41,000 in attendance arrived by 6 p.m., and from beyond the walls of the stadium, fans and players could hear the distant sounds of the NYPD's bagpipe band, the Pipes & Drums of the Emerald Society, warming up. Players began to meander around the field, most wearing NYPD or FDNY hats that had been put in both clubhouses. They hugged and shook hands, an uncharacteristic scene from two teams who'd shared a heated rivalry over the past few seasons. There was a mix of electricity and sadness in the ether that no one had ever felt before. But she had spent 10 days feeling numb, so there was something about finally feeling the grief with 40,000 other people that lifted some of the heaviness. The boys didn't cry -- they just watched, silently.

"You never like to lose, but that was one that was pretty easy to accept." Diana Ross followed with a gut-wrenching version of "God Bless America." She started out at a mic stand set up behind home plate, facing the crowd. As she powered through the song, she slowly drifted past the four umps, stationed staring out from home plate, and stood halfway between the plate and the pitcher's mound.

For Siena women, it’s back to square one

Scaramucci and two friends bought the jersey and immediately donated it to be rotated between the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the Baseball Hall of Fame and Citi Field. "I'm friends with the Wilpon family ... but I just think that was a mistake," says Scaramucci, who spent 11 days as former President Donald Trump's director of communications in 2017. After Marc Anthony sang the national anthem, players poured into the middle of the diamond from the base lines.

He'd stand and look back at her, and they'd both raise a hand. It was a half-wave, half-long-distance air hand-hold. "That probably looked very silly to anybody who saw it," she says. “I have been blessed to have some home runs and some big home runs,” Piazza said Saturday before the Mets and Yankees played at Citi Field, on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Piazza's post-9/11 homer: 15 years ago

"I kept thinking, 'The boys could really use a comeback here,'" Carol says. By that point, Gies was exhausted in the stands. She doesn't remember eating or drinking or talking, or if the boys even had dinner. She had moments where her emotions overwhelmed her, but she also felt uplifted for the first time in 10 days. The outcome of the game didn't matter to her as much as the outcome of the evening. As he pulled out of Flushing, the game began.

There was something about the sound of the music, and the way that the bagpipers stoically marched themselves into a moving rectangle, that made people stare silently. Nobody made a sound for the first 10 seconds. Diana Ross' wrenching rendition of "God Bless America" during the pregame ceremony set the stage to honor first responders.Ezra Shaw/ALLSPORT/Getty ImagesIN THE WEEKS after 9/11, NYPD detective Kevin McDonough barely ate or slept.

Memories of tears, cheers and Mike Piazza’s Amazin’ home run after 9/11

When I came out for the curtain call, I looked up to just thank and dedicate it to those we lost. "It was just this incredible release of emotion," Piazza told MLB Network on the 15th anniversary of those events. "And I think, you know, it became evidently clear that people just wanted to cheer about something." Trust the people that love you and want you to excel. Understand that for me, it’s a true American success story. It’s what our country is all about and what baseball is all about.

The same way that the Piazza jersey may have gone away for a little while before it came back to where it belonged, the items circulate but always gravitate back toward Gies before she passes them along again. She sat with her sons and asked if they wanted to go to the funeral home and say goodbye to their dad. The vote was unanimous, and they all drove over. Ronnie's body had been crushed but was found intact, which Gies considers a miracle. Everybody took turns telling Ronnie they loved him, and at the end, Gies asked for a moment alone. She pulled the American flag off the body bag, and let her hand drift down along the outside, to where she thought Ronnie's arm must be.

The Mets-Braves rivalry had been brewing for years, but the players met on the field before the game in a spirit of solidarity that permeated the night. "You never like to lose," Maddux says now, "but that was one that was pretty easy to accept."Stan Honda/AFP/Getty ImagesBut the kids cared. They screamed for the Mets the whole night. They used to come to games with their dad, and they never went for the Flushing scenery -- they wanted the Mets to win.

"He still keeps them in his night table 20 years later," Gies says. So she went with her brother, Bob, that morning. The group moved slowly, silently, among what was left of the South Tower. When everybody else rounded the corner to move on to the North Tower, Carol made it a few feet before she stopped and turned around. She stood in one spot, and she says she felt Ronnie, in her heart, in her head -- and in her hands. But she definitely wanted to go to Ground Zero.