25 Years Later: Braves, Mets and the Night New York Needed a Win

Twenty-five years after 9/11, remembering the night the Atlanta Braves stood on the other side of Mike Piazza's most important home run — and understood exactly what it meant

The Braves were part of a historic game that took place following the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Every year on Sept.11, we think back to one of the darkest days in American history. As we mark the 25th anniversary, I keep returning to a phrase I once heard that struck a chord: Sept. 11 may have been one of the darkest days in American history, but Sept. 12 was the most united day in American history.

With fear and uncertainty still gripping millions across the country, everyone stood together and asked one question: "How can we help?"

That's a loaded question in any context. On that day, it carried unprecedented weight.

Major League Baseball wrestled with it too. To no one's surprise, the season stopped for six days following the attacks. Baseball was the farthest thing from anyone's mind. Even once the logistical question of when to resume play arose, a deeper one lingered among players and managers around the league. Was it even right to play?

Some didn't want to. Others believed the game could offer real relief to fans who were otherwise carrying an unbearable weight.

Play resumed across the league on Sept. 16, but games didn't return to New York until Sept. 21 — when the Atlanta Braves traveled to Shea Stadium to face the Mets.

The Braves found themselves in an unusual role that night: the visiting team standing on the other side of a moment far bigger than the game itself. Atlanta's players and coaching staff understood the assignment. Mark DeRosa, then a member of the Braves and now with MLB Network, later reflected that it was the only game of his career where he didn't mind losing. He recalled wanting his teammate and Staten Island native Jason Marquis to pitch well, but ultimately feeling like "we had to lose that game" for the sake of the city.

He also remembered watching Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox's reaction in the dugout — normally animated about blowing a late lead, Cox instead seemed to recognize that New York needed this moment more than Atlanta.

The game itself proceeded under a heavy, uncertain atmosphere, with fans unsure how they should even respond to baseball playing out in front of them. That changed in the bottom of the eighth inning. With one out, a runner on first, and the Mets trailing 2-1, Mets catcher Mike Piazza stepped to the plate against Atlanta reliever Steve Karsay. Piazza turned on an 0-1 pitch and drilled it to deep left-center field, giving New York a one-run lead.

I've long believed that baseball is more than just a game, and that home run is proof. Shea Stadium erupted as Piazza rounded the bases. He would later recall barely remembering the moment at all: "The fact that running around the bases, I don't remember touching the ground," Piazza said. "I don't remember touching the bases. [I was thinking about] a lot of things."

The subdued crowd was subdued no more — as if a city's grief, pain, fear and anger were released all at once in one explosive, cathartic cheer. Longtime Mets radio broadcaster Bob Murphy was on the call and captured the moment perfectly.

"It's hit deep to center field, way back, and it is out of here! A home run for Mike Piazza! And the Mets lead it 3-2! ... And it's OK to smile again in New York."

That's what baseball can do.

On that night, in that ballpark, with the Braves standing on the other side of it, everyone in the building — and much of the country watching — exhaled together.

Mets broadcaster Howie Rose, reflecting on the anniversary, admitted he wasn't sure playing that night had even been the right call, "until Mike hit that baseball... and I saw the reaction. That's when it dawned on me: it wasn't just the right decision. It was the only decision."

Seven weeks later, President George W. Bush took the mound before Game 3 of the World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees, wearing an FDNY jacket, and delivered a perfect strike to thunderous applause — another reminder of the role the game was playing in the country's healing.

None of it was about the score, the rivalry, or which team came out on top. On Sept. 21, 2001, baseball — and the two teams that took the field that night, Braves included — gave a grieving country permission to feel something like joy again. That's a night worth remembering, 25 years later, no matter which side of the field you were standing on.

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