September 21, 2001, 25 years ago: The New York Mets host the Atlanta Braves in the 1st professional sporting event in New York City since the 9/11 attacks.
A crowd of 41,235 files into Shea Stadium to watch this matchup, and the nastiness of the teams' rivalry over the last 3 years is put away. Bruce Chen started with the Mets, while Jason Marquis, a Staten Island native, started for the Braves.
Each team scored in the 4th inning. For the Braves, Chipper Jones, always giving the Mets trouble, singled, and Ken Caminiti doubled him home. For the Mets, Mike Piazza doubled; Robin Ventura singled, but Piazza, being slow, couldn't score; and Tsuyoshi Shinjo hit a sacrifice fly to bring Piazza home.
The Braves took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 8th, Julio Franco drew a walk against John Franco. (They were not related: Julio is Dominican, while John is Italian and from Brooklyn.) Chipper singled him over. Met manager Bobby Valentine brought in Armando Benitez, who had succeeded Franco as the Mets' closer. Brian Jordan doubled Julio home.
But with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, Steve Karsay walked Edgardo Alfonzo. Desi Relaford was sent in to pinch-run. And Mike Piazza hit a home run to center field, electrifying the Flushing Meadow amphitheater. The Mets won, 3-2.
Ever since, Met fans have acted like this was the moment when New York was saved, as if that one Piazza home run meant more to the City than everything the Yankees did the rest of the way.
Fugeddaboutit: The Mets went into the game 5 1/2 games behind the Braves for the National League Eastern Division lead, and 11 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the only Wild Card spot then available in the NL; they went 8-7 the rest of the way, and finished 6 games behind the Braves (the Philadelphia Phillies finished 2 back), and were still 11 games behind the Cards.
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September 21, 2001 was a Friday. This was also the day that "America: A Tribute to Heroes," an all-star fundraiser for the relief, aired on all TV networks.
Among the songs sun that night was Céline Dion's version of "God Bless America." I realize English isn't her first language, and America isn't her first (and arguably isn't her second) country, so I can't fault her much, but it was the worst version of that song I've ever heard. In contrast, the closing, with Willie Nelson, technically nowhere near as good a singer, leading everyone in singing "America the Beautiful," was just right.
Bruce Springsteen opened with "My City In Ruins." Billy Joel sang "New York State of Mind." Tom Petty sang "I Won't Back Down." Neil Young sang John Lennon's "Imagine." There were also brief spoken interludes by various celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, and one with Will Smith, whose film Ali would soon be released, and the real Ali, making a rare public statement during his battle with Parkinson's disease, asking for tolerance, because real Muslims opposed the attacks.
And Mariah Carey sang "Hero." She was fine. But this was also the day the film Glitter premiered. It was supposed to be Mariah's big entry into movies. Instead, this movie was so bad (How bad was it?), it was nicknamed "Flashdunce." It took 4 years for her personal and professional lives to recover.
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