Why the post-9/11 World Series means so much to so many 25 years later

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For the first time in 46 years, a sitting US president was about to throw out the first pitch in a World Series game.

Deep in the bowels of Yankee Stadium, George W. Bush was being warmed up by a man wearing a softball mitt. Outside on the diamond, a fake umpire was standing near home plate with a gun and a taser concealed beneath his uniform. Above them, the stadium was rocking, so much so that the picture frames in the offices below were hanging askew.

Nothing was normal on October 30, 2001: The New York Yankees were hosting the Arizona Diamondbacks for the biggest prize in baseball in a city still in shock – just 13 miles away, the debris from the World Trade Center still burned .

But despite all the fear and emotion, it would end up being one of the greatest World Series ever played.

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Yankees’ senior vice president of marketing Deborah Tymon has worked behind the scenes for the club for over 40 years. She had often heard her mother talk about where she was on December 7, 1941, the day the United States base at Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan, entering the US into the Second World War.

Sixty years later, they were sitting side by side on I-87, commuting towards Yankee Stadium, when they noticed the thick black smoke on the horizon spewing from the top of the World Trade Center .

Her mom said, “Oh look, the restaurant must be on fire,” Tymon told CNN Sports .

After parking moments later, they realized that this was so much more serious.

“At Yankee Stadium, there’s a television on the wall every five feet, in your offices and at the switchboard,” she said. “We arrived in time to see the second plane hit, and I remember thinking back to my mother telling the story of Pearl Harbor. I had this incredible image of exactly where I was standing, which TV I was looking at, when the plane hit. I think the overwhelming emotion was just fear.”

Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder David Dellucci was about to get into his truck to drive to a radio station for a morning show when he checked his phone; he says there were about 30 messages.

“The phone just continues to beep with message after message,” he told CNN Sports. “The first one is from the radio station; it says, ‘Don’t worry about coming in today, we, you know, we’ve got much more to cover.’”

Then his family began texting, “Are you OK?” He went back inside and turned on his television.

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They were on duty the day airplanes were used to attack America. This is how they remember it 25 years later

“As I’m talking and describing this, the hair on the back of my neck is standing up because it was unfathomable,” he said.

Nobody thought much about baseball for a few days. The Yankees sent all the food they had in-house for a homestand to help the volunteers at Ground Zero. The organization had been personally impacted – two employees’ sons worked for Cantor Fitzgerald and perished in the North Tower.

When Major League Baseball resumed six days later, Dellucci says it was hard for anyone to focus on the game.

“Every airplane that flew near the field, it was almost as if the game stopped; you would look in the sky, follow the plane and then focus back on the pitch,” he said. “We never knew if we were going to get attacked again.”

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The Diamondbacks played their first game as a new franchise in 1998, and they couldn’t have imagined that they’d make it to the World Series just three years later.

From their first year to 2001, all they ever knew was a New York Yankees team that won every season, taking baseball’s ultimate prize in ’98, 1999 and 2000. Outside of the Bronx, everybody hated the Yankees – until the 2001 World Series, when the nation’s sympathies were extended to the team in pinstripes.

Even Dellucci, who had dreamed of winning the World Series since he was six years old, admits he was conflicted.

He visited Ground Zero with 14 of his teammates, grappling with the enormity of the tragedy. They met families of the victims and observed the “humongous bulldozers” that looked more like ants amidst the catastrophic destruction; they smelled the stench and winced at the sight of first responders removing names from a board whenever they identified a corpse or a body part.

“When we got on the bus to go to the field, it was dead silence; not a single person said a word until we got to the stadium because it was so hard to get that out of our minds,” he said. “We understood, if we don’t win this thing, it’s well deserved on the other side.”

Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson helped Arizona dominate the first two games at home, outscoring the Yanks by 13 runs to 1 and the series was in danger of becoming a rout. But everything changed for the next three games in New York when the series really came to life.

Dellucci says that it took the Diamondbacks an hour to get into Yankee Stadium for Game 3. Security officials had to be sure that there wasn’t a bomb on the bus of the team that was 2-0 up in the World Series.

Umpire Dale Scott described the intense security operation as he entered the stadium, passing through newly installed metal detectors and stopping to show identification to a man he’d known for years. Scott told CNN Sports that he passed security personnel every 20 feet until he made his way into the umpire’s room, where he met a man he’d never seen before.

It was a Secret Service agent who informed him that he’d be wearing an umpire’s uniform on the field.

“He had a gun, he had handcuffs, he had zip ties, he had a taser,” Scott recalled to CNN. “At one point, I said, ‘Could I borrow that taser? I might need that sometime this game.’

“The atmosphere, it was intense,” Scott explained. “They had bomb sniffing dogs, they had a dirty bomb mobile operating facility, they had snipers everywhere.”

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When Deborah Tymon had arrived at Yankee Stadium just in time to watch the second plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center, she couldn’t have imagined that, three weeks later, she’d be handing the president of the United States the ball for the ceremonial first pitch.

But when the moment finally came, she was more concerned with trying to find a catcher who could snag President George W. Bush’s first pitch.

The Secret Service wanted to know exactly who’d be out on the field with Bush, and Yankees catcher Jorge Posada had been vetted and cleared with facial recognition. But Posada was in the bullpen preparing for the game, the clock was ticking and Tymon was feeling the pressure.

“We have to cue this first pitch, so I didn’t have a choice,” she recalled. “Our backup catcher Todd Greene was sitting on the bench, and I screamed, ‘Greene, Greene, grab your glove, you’ve gotta go!’”

“And of course Greene goes running out to home plate and about 45 men talk to their wrists, like, ‘Who is this guy charging home plate?’ I was quite panic-stricken that I’d sent Todd Greene into a den of wolves. I thought I put his life at risk.”

Fortunately, he lived to tell the tale, making the most famous catch of his career; it’s an image that he had blown up for his man cave at home. Nobody could have guessed that Bush had the weight of an entire country on his shoulders as he confidently strode out to the mound wearing a New York City Fire Department pullover over his bulletproof vest. He gave a thumbs-up to the crowd and fired a strike over the plate.

Dellucci says that he and his teammates were speechless; the only thing anybody said was, “Wow.”

For those who didn’t live through that time, in that place, it might be easy to underestimate the extreme levels of anxiety everyone was feeling. The carnage had appeared so suddenly, and it was so devastating, nobody could be sure that it wouldn’t or couldn’t happen again.

Tymon’s mom, who was in her mid-eighties, worked in the ticket office at Yankee Stadium, but her daughter had urged her to stay at home that night. She’d been hearing the sirens near the stadium for weeks; she’d seen all the military activity and the helicopters flying around.

“You were just waiting for it to happen again, you didn’t think it was one and done,” she recalled. “I said, ‘I’m so afraid, Mom. If anything happens, I can’t get us both out of that building.’”

But with just one pitch, Bush managed to convey a sense of strength and hope.

“You look up and see security on the roof, you were afraid for him, and when he walked out onto the mound, it was the most peaceful, consoling moment,” she said. “Like, you really believed he was in charge, he was gonna take care of it, and it was so overwhelming that it gave you a peace, that fear you had disappeared. He was in charge and he took that mound with no fear.”

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The president didn’t stick around for the game, and Dellucci said he felt the mood change as soon as he’d been whisked off the field and left it to the players.

“The president left and so did the snipers,” he laughed, “And so now we’re trying to win and we’re sitting ducks out here!”

By their own admission, the Yankees hadn’t been playing well that season. Outfielder Shane Spencer told CNN Sports that they didn’t even deserve to be in the World Series.

After 9/11, he said they were just going through the motions in batting practice. He still gets emotional thinking about it now because he watched the towers collapse from his home in New Jersey across the Hudson River.

“It was such a beautiful day,” he recalled, wiping a tear from his cheek. “It looked fake. We didn’t know what to do. You’re crying all the time, holding hands with firemen and first responders; it was a tough time.”

But he says that Bush’s pitch and the energy of the New York crowd jolted them from their daze.

“The whole place went crazy, it jump-started everything for us,” he said. “Just a feeling, we got a chance here, we are feeding off them, we fed off the president.”

The D-Backs were no match for Roger Clemens’ firepower from the mound that night, and the Yankees got back into the series with a Posada home run and an RBI from Scott Brosius.

But on the next night, Halloween, they found themselves needing little short of a miracle in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Yankees were trailing 3-1 with just one out left. But with a last throw of the dice, Tino Martinez smashed a two-run homer to level the contest, sending the game to extra innings and the World Series into its first November action.

The clock dramatically struck midnight during shortstop Derek Jeter’s 10th inning at-bat. At 12:01 a.m. he leveled the series with an extraordinary home run. That’s why they call him “Mr. November.”

It was a seemingly impossible comeback by the Yankees, but what happened the next night was unbelievable.

Again, the Yankees were two down in the ninth inning, again they were down to their final out, and again they tied it up with a two-run homer – this time from Brosius.

Alfonso Soriano then settled the game with an RBI single in the 12th inning, giving New York a 3-2 win and a 3-2 series lead.

Those who were in attendance for those games say they’ve never heard Yankee Stadium so loud.

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The Yankees might have thought they were heading for a fourth consecutive World Series title, a gift to so many New Yorkers who’d been so impacted by the attacks. But their luck evaporated in the desert, where the Diamondbacks discovered some magic of their own.

Johnson muted the pinstripes with a dominant performance in Game 6, and the 15-2 score was one of the most lopsided in World Series history. Now, it was all on the line in a winner-takes-all Game 7.

Dellucci told CNN Sports that the Diamondbacks gathered recently for a 25-year reunion, and he said that nobody could remember much about that game until the ninth inning. However, the details of that final inning are indelibly stamped in all their memories.

The D-Backs trailed the Yankees 2-1 and New York had Mariano Rivero on the mound; a closer with 23 consecutive postseason saves to his name. Surely, the Yankees were home and dry. But the home team managed to tie up the game, and they loaded the bases in time for that season’s Home Run Derby winner Luis Gonzalez to take the plate.

At that moment, Dellucci says he noticed something behind home plate.

“There’s a collection of white napkins, and it’s a little mini tornado that’s just kind of swirling,” he said. “We look at each other and say, ‘You know what, they had their magic in New York, and this is a sign, this is our magic happening.’”

The narrative seemed poised for the team’s top batter to launch the winning shot into the stands. Instead, he blooped a single just over the infield, allowing the Diamondbacks to clinch the most extraordinary World Series triumph.

In a profound moment of national vulnerability, when Americans needed a distraction from the suffering and anxiety, baseball provided it. A seven-game series that went down to the wire, there were two extra-innings games in New York that will be remembered among the most dramatic World Series contests of all time.

Dellucci and his teammates had fulfilled their personal dreams and made history as the fastest franchise to win a World Series. But as he looked around the stadium, he understood that he was now a part of something so much bigger. Glancing up into the suites, he made eye contact with the families of the first responders who’d been invited to the game.

“You look at them, and you can’t help but smile because they’re smiling at you. You realize it’s much bigger than just the game,” he said.

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“We’d get phone calls and fan mail, that said, citizens were afraid. They didn’t know what was going to happen next, but by sitting there and watching a baseball game, they were able to return to normalcy for just a little bit,” Dellucci added. “If it had been a blowout, they would have drifted back to what’s next and how terrible this all is. But it was a nail-biter, back and forth, that allowed people to stay engaged and watch every pitch.

“For a good three hours, you completely forgot where we were as a country and focused on one of the greatest World Series in the history of baseball.”

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46年来，美国在任总统首次将在世界大赛中投出第一球。

在洋基体育场深处，乔治·W·布什正被一个戴着垒球手套的人热身。在球场外的棒球场上，一个假扮裁判的人站在本垒板附近，制服下藏着一把枪和一把电击枪。在他们头顶上，整个体育场都在震动，以至于楼下办公室里的相框都歪斜了。

2001 年 10 月 30 日，一切都不正常：纽约洋基队在主场迎战亚利桑那响尾蛇队，争夺棒球界的最高荣誉，而此时这座城市仍处于震惊之中——仅仅 13 英里之外，世界贸易中心的废墟仍在燃烧。

但尽管充满了恐惧和情绪波动，这场比赛最终却成为了有史以来最伟大的世界大赛之一。

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洋基队高级营销副总裁黛博拉·泰蒙在俱乐部幕后工作了 40 多年。她经常听母亲谈起 1941 年 12 月 7 日那天她在哪里，那天日本袭击了美国珍珠港基地，美国由此卷入第二次世界大战。

六十年后，他们并肩坐在 I-87 号州际公路上，前往洋基体育场，这时他们注意到地平线上冒出滚滚浓烟，那是世界贸易中心的顶部。

蒂蒙告诉 CNN 体育频道：“她妈妈说，‘哦，看，餐厅肯定着火了。’”

停好车后，他们才意识到事情远比想象的要严重得多。

“在洋基体育场，每隔五英尺就有一台电视，办公室里、总机旁也都有，”她说。“我们赶到的时候，正好看到第二架飞机撞击。我记得当时脑海里浮现出母亲讲述珍珠港事件的故事。飞机撞击的那一刻，我清楚地记得自己站在哪里，正在看哪台电视。我想，当时最强烈的情绪就是恐惧。”

亚利桑那响尾蛇队外野手大卫·德卢奇正准备上车去电台参加早间节目，这时他查看了一下手机；他说手机里有大约 30 条信息。

“手机一直响个不停，一条接一条地收到短信，”他告诉CNN体育频道。“第一条是电台发来的，上面写着：‘今天不用来了，我们还有很多事情要报道。’”

然后他的家人开始发短信问：“你还好吗？”他回到屋里，打开了电视。

Eileen Blass/今日美国网络/Imagn Images

飞机袭击美国那天，他们正在值班。25年后，他们是这样回忆的。

“我一边说一边描述这件事，我的后颈汗毛都竖起来了，因为它太不可思议了，”他说。

那几天，几乎没人想起棒球。洋基队把主场比赛期间所有剩余的食物都捐给了世贸中心遗址的志愿者。这家公司也受到了直接影响——两名员工的儿子在康托·菲茨杰拉德公司工作，不幸在北塔遇难。

德卢奇说，六天后美国职业棒球大联盟恢复比赛时，没有人能集中精力看比赛。

“每当有飞机飞过球场附近，比赛就好像暂停了一样；你会抬头望向天空，追踪飞机的飞行轨迹，然后再把注意力重新集中到球场上，”他说。“我们根本不知道会不会再次遭到袭击。”

约翰·马甘格洛/法新社/盖蒂图片社

响尾蛇队于 1998 年作为一支新成立的球队进行了他们的第一场比赛，他们当时绝对想不到，仅仅三年后，他们就能打进世界大赛。

从他们成立的第一年到 2001 年，他们所知道的只有一支每个赛季都赢球的纽约洋基队，他们在 1998 年、1999 年和 2000 年赢得了棒球界的最高荣誉。在布朗克斯区以外，每个人都讨厌洋基队——直到 2001 年世界大赛，全国的同情心才转移到了这支身穿条纹球衣的球队身上。

就连从六岁起就梦想赢得世界大赛冠军的德卢奇也承认自己内心很矛盾。

他和14名队友一起前往世贸中心遗址，努力理解这场悲剧的巨大规模。他们与遇难者家属见面，目睹了在灾难性破坏中显得渺小如蚂蚁的“巨型推土机”；他们闻到了恶臭，看到救援人员在辨认尸体或残肢时从牌子上移除名字，不禁感到一阵刺痛。

“我们上车去球场的时候，车厢里一片死寂；直到到了体育场，每个人都沉默不语，因为我们脑子里一直想着这件事，”他说。“我们明白，如果我们没能赢得这场比赛，那也是对方应得的。”

库尔特·席林和兰迪·约翰逊帮助亚利桑那响尾蛇队在前两场主场比赛中占据绝对优势，以13比1的总比分击败纽约扬基队，系列赛一度面临一边倒的局面。但接下来在纽约进行的三场比赛彻底改变了局势，系列赛才真正精彩起来。

德卢奇说，响尾蛇队花了整整一个小时才进入洋基体育场观看第三场比赛。安保人员必须确保这支在世界大赛中以 2-0 领先的球队的大巴上没有炸弹。

裁判戴尔·斯科特描述了进入体育场时严格的安保措施。他先是穿过新安装的金属探测器，然后停下来向一位他认识多年的男子出示身份证件。斯科特告诉CNN体育频道，他每隔20英尺就要经过安保人员，直到进入裁判休息室，在那里他遇到了一位素未谋面的男子。

是特勤局特工告诉他，他上场时要穿裁判服。

斯科特向CNN回忆说：“他有枪，有手铐，有扎带，还有电击枪。有一次，我说，‘我能借用一下那把电击枪吗？我可能在比赛中会用到它。’”

斯科特解释说：“气氛非常紧张。他们有搜爆犬，有移动脏弹操作设施，到处都是狙击手。”

罗伯托·博雷亚/法新社/盖蒂图片社

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当黛博拉·泰蒙赶到洋基体育场，亲眼目睹第二架飞机撞上世界贸易中心北塔时，她绝对想不到，三周后，她会把球递给美国总统，作为开球仪式的第一球。

但当那一刻终于到来时，她更关心的是如何找到一个能接住乔治·W·布什总统投出的第一球的捕手。

特勤局想知道究竟谁会和布什一起出现在球场上，洋基队捕手豪尔赫·波萨达已经通过了面部识别审查并确认身份。但波萨达当时正在牛棚里为比赛做准备，时间一分一秒地过去，泰蒙感到压力巨大。

“我们必须给第一球打信号，所以我别无选择，”她回忆道。“我们的替补捕手托德·格林当时坐在板凳上，我大喊：‘格林，格林，拿起你的手套，你得走了！’”

“当然，格林冲向本垒，大约45个人都捂着手腕，好像在说，‘这家伙是谁？冲向本垒的！’我当时非常恐慌，觉得我把托德·格林送进了狼窝。我觉得我把他置于危险之中。”

幸运的是，他活了下来，并完成了他职业生涯中最著名的一次接球；他把这张照片放大后挂在了家里的“男士专属空间”里。谁也想不到，布什当时肩负着整个国家的重任，自信地走上投手丘，身上穿着一件纽约市消防局的套头衫，里面套着防弹背心。他向观众竖起大拇指，然后投出了一个好球。

德鲁奇说，他和队友们都惊呆了，说不出话来；大家唯一说的话就是“哇”。

对于那些没有亲身经历过那个时代、那个地方的人来说，很容易低估当时每个人都感受到的极度焦虑。这场浩劫来得如此突然，如此惨烈，没有人能够确定它是否不会再次发生。

泰蒙的母亲已经八十多岁了，在洋基体育场的售票处工作，但女儿劝她那天晚上待在家里。几个星期以来，她一直听到体育场附近传来警报声；她也看到了各种军事活动和盘旋的直升机。

“你当时就等着它再次发生，你根本没觉得这只是一次偶然事件，”她回忆道。“我说，‘妈妈，我好害怕。如果发生什么事，我没办法带我们俩离开那栋楼。’”

但布什仅凭一次投球，就成功地传达出一种力量和希望的感觉。

“你抬头看到屋顶上的保安，你会为他担心，但当他走到投手丘上时，那是最平静、最令人安心的时刻，”她说。“你会真的相信他能掌控局面，他会搞定一切，那种感觉如此强烈，让你感到无比平静，之前的恐惧都消失了。他掌控着局面，他无所畏惧地站上了投手丘。”

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总统没有留下来看比赛，德卢奇说，总统一被迅速带离球场，把比赛留给球员们，他就感觉到了气氛的变化。

“总统走了，狙击手也走了，”他笑着说，“所以现在我们想赢，却成了待宰的羔羊！”

洋基队自己也承认，他们那个赛季打得并不好。外野手肖恩·斯宾塞告诉CNN体育频道，他们甚至不配进入世界大赛。

9·11事件后，他说他们就像在进行例行的击球练习。现在想起这件事他仍然会情绪激动，因为他当时在新泽西州的家中，隔着哈德逊河，亲眼目睹了世贸双塔的倒塌。

“那天天气真好，”他回忆道，一边擦着脸颊上的泪水。“但一切都显得那么不真实。我们不知所措。你一直都在哭，和消防员、急救人员手牵着手；那段日子真是难熬。”

但他表示，布什的演讲和纽约观众的热情让他们从恍惚中清醒过来。

“整个地方都沸腾了，这给了我们一切动力，”他说。“就是一种感觉，我们抓住了这个机会，我们受益于他们，受益于总统。”

当晚，响尾蛇队完全无法抵挡罗杰·克莱门斯在投手丘上的火力，洋基队凭借波萨达的本垒打和斯科特·布罗修斯的打点，重新回到了系列赛的局面。

但到了第二天晚上，也就是万圣节那天，他们在第九局下半场就发现自己几乎需要奇迹才能获胜。

洋基队以1比3落后，只剩一人出局。但最后时刻，蒂诺·马丁内斯轰出一记两分全垒打，将比分扳平，比赛进入延长赛，世界大赛也首次在11月开战。

午夜时分，游击手德里克·杰特在第十局的打击中，时钟戏剧性地敲响了午夜的钟声。凌晨12点01分，他击出一记惊世骇俗的本垒打，将系列赛比分扳平。这就是人们称他为“十一月先生”的原因。

洋基队的逆转看似不可能，但第二天晚上发生的事情更令人难以置信。

洋基队在第九局再次落后两分，他们再次面临最后一个出局数，他们再次凭借一记两分全垒打扳平比分——这次是布罗修斯击出的全垒打。

随后，阿方索·索里亚诺在第 12 局击出一支带有打点的安打，帮助纽约队以 3-2 获胜，并在系列赛中以 3-2 领先。

那些亲临现场观看比赛的人说，他们从未听过洋基体育场如此震耳欲聋的欢呼声。

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洋基队或许以为他们即将拿下世界大赛四连冠，这对于许多遭受恐怖袭击重创的纽约人来说，无疑是一份厚礼。然而，他们的好运却在沙漠中戛然而止，响尾蛇队在那里展现出了他们自己的魔力。

约翰逊在第六场比赛中以统治级的表现压制了条纹衫军，15比2的比分也是世界大赛历史上最悬殊的比分之一。现在，一切都将在决定命运的第七场比赛中见分晓。

德卢奇告诉CNN体育频道，响尾蛇队最近举行了25周年重聚活动，他说，直到第九局，大家对那场比赛的记忆都比较模糊。然而，最后一局的细节却深深地烙印在了所有人的记忆中。

响尾蛇队以1比2落后于洋基队，纽约洋基队派出了马里亚诺·里韦罗担任投手，这位终结者已经连续23次在季后赛中拿下救援成功。人们都认为洋基队胜券在握。然而，主队却顽强地将比分扳平，并在当赛季全垒打大赛冠军路易斯·冈萨雷斯站上打击区前攻占了满垒。

德卢奇说，就在那时，他注意到本垒板后面有什么东西。

“那里有一堆白色餐巾纸，像个小小的龙卷风一样四处旋转，”他说。“我们互相看着对方说，‘你知道吗，他们在纽约创造了奇迹，而这是一个征兆，这就是我们自己的奇迹正在发生。’”

比赛的走向似乎已经注定是球队的头号击球手将球轰出全垒打，赢得比赛。然而，他却只击出一记内野安打，球擦着内野飞过，帮助响尾蛇队赢得了这场史无前例的世界大赛胜利。

在国家极度脆弱的时刻，当美国民众需要转移注意力，摆脱苦难和焦虑时，棒球恰好提供了这样的慰藉。这场七场系列赛扣人心弦，其中在纽约进行的两场加时赛，将被载入史册，成为世界大赛历史上最激动人心的比赛之一。

德鲁奇和他的队友们实现了他们的个人梦想，并创造了历史，成为赢得世界大赛冠军速度最快的球队。但当他环顾球场时，他意识到自己现在已成为更伟大事业的一部分。他抬头望向包厢，与受邀前来观赛的急救人员家属们目光交汇。

“你看着他们，也会情不自禁地微笑，因为他们也在对你微笑。你会意识到，这远不止是一场比赛那么简单，”他说。

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“我们接到了很多电话和球迷来信，他们都说民众很害怕。他们不知道接下来会发生什么，但通过观看棒球比赛，他们能够暂时恢复正常生活，”德卢奇补充道。“如果比赛一边倒，他们就会开始担心接下来会发生什么，以及这一切有多么糟糕。但这是一场扣人心弦、你来我往的比赛，让人们能够保持专注，观看每一个投球。”

“整整三个小时，你完全忘记了我们国家所处的境地，专注于棒球史上最伟大的世界大赛之一。”