Members of the 2001 New York Mets, John Franco, Al Leiter, Todd Zeile, Bobby Valentine, and PR director Jay Horwitz, continued the club’s tradition of visiting local firehouses on Sept. 11 with a stop at Engine 3/Ladder 12 in Manhattan on Thursday morning — the 24th anniversary of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center.
“It means a lot for my teammates and I,” the former reliever and team captain, Franco, said. “We were a part of the team when 9/11 2001 happened. It means a lot for us to come back. We never forget the brave men and women who gave their lives.
“We come back every year to show our support, and the Mets organization shows our support year in and year out. The effort that these men and women do day in and day out, because of them, we can put our heads on our pillows at night and sleep comfortably.”
The Mets, spurned on by Horwitz, thrust themselves to the forefront of relief efforts for first responders working at Ground Zero following the attack on New York, which claimed the lives of 2,753 civilians and first responders.
Shea Stadium, the Mets’ former home, was 16 miles away from the World Trade Center and was initially set up as a triage center for the recovery of victims until the realization that there were no bodies to recover.
Players and Valentine, the team’s manager, loaded trucks with supplies, including work boots, water bottles, and batteries, to be sent to the workers sifting through the wreckage.
“We remember the feeling, we remember the emotion,” Valentine said. “And that emotion and the continuance of the appreciation for all that was done… I thank [Jay Horwitz], I thank the players who were so responsive and so sincere in their efforts to do everything they could. Even though we couldn’t do enough, and we knew we couldn’t do enough, and we felt bad that we couldn’t do more, we were still trying to give, because so many gave so much more.”
Just days after the attacks, Zeile, Leiter, Franco, Mike Piazza, and Robin Ventura entered the city’s restricted zone, which encapsulated a 30-to-40-block radius around Ground Zero, in an attempt to boost the morale of the first responders.
“There was always a feeling, at least in my heart, that it felt odd for us to go into a place that was so sad and horrific of a scene,” Leiter, the southpaw ace of the 2001 squad, said. “As time went on, I realized that we did help a little based on us being baseball players and an organization that absolutely cared about trying to make a difference. I can’t believe it’s almost 25 years. It’s gone by fast. Every time I’ve been given the opportunity to come here with my teammates, I say yes.”
“We were part of it,” Franco added. “We put a small, little band-aid on a big wound, but we’re just happy to come down and be a part of it and show the men and women how thankful we are.”
The Mets also released a documentary on YouTube, titled ’11 Days in September,’ which delved into the team’s efforts in the weeks following the attacks.
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