GaryMrMets
09-12-2001, 04:10 PM
I read this at Mets Online Fan Forum, and thought I would copy & paste it over here.
justbec
Mets Hall-Of-Famer
Posts: 2199
(9/12/01 2:50:44 pm)
Reply
Mets Players in shock
I decided to check out the Pittsburgh Newspapers.......
Mets in shock over attack in New York
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Paul Meyer, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Mike Piazza is an All-Star catcher. He's also a history buff.
Last night, Piazza didn't play baseball with his New York Mets teammates at PNC Park because of the horrific history he watched on television in his room at the Downtown Westin.
"The magnitude is beyond anybody's imagination," Piazza said in the hotel's lobby yesterday afternoon. "It's a terrible tragedy. You would never imagine something like this could happen in this country."
Piazza, a fan of CNN and the History Channel, referred to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, but he was keenly aware of the World Trade Center carnage.
"I woke up this morning and like everybody else turned on the TV," he said. "I was completely shocked. I know a girl very, very well who lives two blocks from [the Trade Center]. I talked to her. She heard it. She said downtown [Manhattan] looks completely like a war zone.
"It's really scary. The bridges, the tunnels, are shut down. I know a lot of people in New York. Everybody I know is OK, but you don't know if this is over.
"You'd like to believe everything is done, but the worst thing is the mystery. There are so many questions. It's a bizarre situation. It's a surreal situation. You just pray for all the victims' families.
"I could not believe the sight when those buildings collapsed. Complete shock. That it's real is so bizarre. You might see something like that in a movie, but you could not imagine this catastrophic event. It's amazing.
"How do you begin to get back to normal? Everybody's life will be forever changed by this. It was such a bizarre systematic coordinated attack. It's amazing in the most bizarre sense of the word. I cannot comprehend how somebody could pull this off. It's scary. It's just so sick that some people's priorities are hate and death. It's completely [messed] up.
"It's a feeling of complete despair. You're angry. You're scared. You're in shock. And you're pissed off. For years, people [in the United States] took it for granted we'd never have a tragedy of this magnitude on American soil.
"It's a completely sad day for the victims -- and everybody."
The Mets, who were scheduled to begin a three-game series against the Pirates last night, arrived in Pittsburgh late Monday night after spending much of their off-day in Miami, where they'd played a four-game series with the Florida Marlins.
Some yesterday were awake early and saw the television reports. Others were asleep and awakened by concerned family members or friends.
"My reaction is the same as every American's -- it's a tragic day in the history of our country," Mets Manager Bobby Valentine said. "Our prayers go out to the people. And I totally support our commander in chief about squaring the score and making sure it doesn't happen again."
Valentine said he thinks one of the planes that struck the Trade Center hit the office of his broker.
"It's on the 69th floor," he said. "I've looked out that window many times."
Utility player Lenny Harris also knew someone in the Trade Center. His wife, Carnettia, has a cousin who works there. Harris didn't know if his wife's cousin was safe.
"I'm very upset," Harris said. "This is a world crisis."
Mets reliever John Franco, born in Brooklyn and a Staten Island resident, said he knew "20 or 30" people who worked at the Trade Center. And he has family members in New York. He learned his 13-year-old daughter, Nicole, was safe. A relative had picked her up at school.
"I don't really want to talk about it," Franco said. "There really are no words. It's devastating. I just know my family's safe. Speaking for our whole team, we're deeply saddened and shocked like the rest of the country. Our prayers go out to the families of the victims."
Former Pirates first baseman Mark Johnson, a Dartmouth graduate, thought Jimmy Horvath, his college catcher who's in the financial business, might have been in the World Trade Center yesterday morning.
"I hope not," said Johnson, who immediately after graduation had a job on Wall Street. "My father-in-law did business in the Trade Center [Monday]. I have two sisters-in-law who work in Manhattan. They're OK. One of them saw and heard the first plane hit -- and bolted. She works in a building next door. She ran and caught a cab and got out of the city.
"I don't really know what to make of it. It's kind of surreal. You don't really know what's up. You're away from your family. You just never think something like is going to happen here."
Former Pirates pitcher Rick White was in his room with his wife, Corie, and daughters Alexis, 4, and Dakota, 2. He didn't see much of the tragedy at first because the girls wanted to watch cartoons on television.
"But there's not going to be a whole lot going on in New York for a long time," White said. "I really don't care if we play the rest of the year or not. Everybody's worried about what's going to happen next.
"I have friends on the police force and a couple who are firemen. I haven't been able to reach them.
"It's amazing. You always watch movies about terrorism and you think how easy something like this could be -- in a movie. But this was a major catastrophe right in front of your eyes. Basically, it could be the start of World War III."
White had planned to drive his family back to their off-season home near Springfield, Ohio, late yesterday afternoon.
"My wife wants to get out of Pittsburgh because it's a big city," White said.
However, those plans changed when the Mets decided to move out of the Westin, which is just across the street from the William S. Moorhead Federal Building here.
Mets General Manager Steve Phillips, who was in New York, put out the word he didn't want anybody leaving the team.
Westin employees helped the Mets secure 50 rooms at a hotel near the Monroeville Mall.
"The hotel's conduct was great," said Charlie Samuels, the Mets' equipment manager and associate travel director. "I figured the hotels near the [Pittsburgh] airport would be filling up, so I looked the other way."
Major League Baseball security suggested the Mets move out of the Westin because of its proximity to the Moorhead building.
"We look out our windows and see the Federal Building," Valentine said. "It wasn't a security issue. It was more a case of possible copycats and other nonsense.
"It was a better-safe-than-sorry situation. We are a New York team."
"We would have stayed [at the Westin] if it was not next to the Federal Building," said Jay Horwitz, the Mets vice-president for media relations. "We were advised to err on the side of precaution."
The Mets planned to spend the night in Monroeville and return to the Westin this morning. Then await word on whether tonight's game will be played.
"I wouldn't even call baseball secondary at this point," Piazza said. "The business at hand is to figure out the safety of the country, to take a few days to reorganize, keep everybody together and grieve and see how we can help."
Piazza said he "heard" there might be no major-league games for a week, but there was no official word yesterday.
Don Fehr, head of the players union, was at the Westin yesterday. He was to have had an informational meeting with the Mets, but that was canceled.
He had talked with Paul Beeston, Major League Baseball's chief operating officer, yesterday about resuming play.
"They were preliminary discussions," Fehr said. "In the face of these events, we'll play it by ear and do what's in the best interests of the country. We'll wait and see.
"This is the kind of thing which puts what we do on a day-to-day basis in rather stark relief."
Not all the Mets were in Pittsburgh yesterday.
Shortstop Rey Ordonez, who lives in Florida, stayed there and was scheduled to fly into Pittsburgh yesterday. He didn't make it because of the closing of all the airports.
Three minor-leaguers who'd been called up from the Mets' Class AAA Norfolk minor-league team also were stranded in Virginia because of the closings.
However, catcher Jason Phillips, a fourth call-up, did make it. He and his wife, Kelly, decided to drive from Norfolk to Pittsburgh Monday.
Another Met who didn't make it was pitcher Al Leiter, who was scheduled to start last night. He flew home to New York from Miami because his daughter, Lindsay, had her first day of school Monday.
Leiter was aboard a USAirways flight at 9:10 a.m. yesterday. However, the plane had not left the gate at LaGuardia yet, and the pilot announced there would be a delay.
Twenty minutes later, it turned out there wouldn't be a flight at all.
Leiter rented a car and began riding to Philadelphia, thinking he could fly from there to Pittsburgh.
"I'm thinking I still have a game to get to," he said.
However, he quickly learned from radio reports there wouldn't be a game.
"Baseball is so secondary now," Leiter said. "I feel vulnerable. I feel violated. And I'm so ... angry."
Piazza, just before boarding a bus that would take the Mets to Monroeville, said he would spend last night watching more television. More history.
"I don't know what [else] you can do," he said softly. "It's just so sad.
God Bless
justbec
Mets Hall-Of-Famer
Posts: 2199
(9/12/01 2:50:44 pm)
Reply
Mets Players in shock
I decided to check out the Pittsburgh Newspapers.......
Mets in shock over attack in New York
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Paul Meyer, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Mike Piazza is an All-Star catcher. He's also a history buff.
Last night, Piazza didn't play baseball with his New York Mets teammates at PNC Park because of the horrific history he watched on television in his room at the Downtown Westin.
"The magnitude is beyond anybody's imagination," Piazza said in the hotel's lobby yesterday afternoon. "It's a terrible tragedy. You would never imagine something like this could happen in this country."
Piazza, a fan of CNN and the History Channel, referred to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, but he was keenly aware of the World Trade Center carnage.
"I woke up this morning and like everybody else turned on the TV," he said. "I was completely shocked. I know a girl very, very well who lives two blocks from [the Trade Center]. I talked to her. She heard it. She said downtown [Manhattan] looks completely like a war zone.
"It's really scary. The bridges, the tunnels, are shut down. I know a lot of people in New York. Everybody I know is OK, but you don't know if this is over.
"You'd like to believe everything is done, but the worst thing is the mystery. There are so many questions. It's a bizarre situation. It's a surreal situation. You just pray for all the victims' families.
"I could not believe the sight when those buildings collapsed. Complete shock. That it's real is so bizarre. You might see something like that in a movie, but you could not imagine this catastrophic event. It's amazing.
"How do you begin to get back to normal? Everybody's life will be forever changed by this. It was such a bizarre systematic coordinated attack. It's amazing in the most bizarre sense of the word. I cannot comprehend how somebody could pull this off. It's scary. It's just so sick that some people's priorities are hate and death. It's completely [messed] up.
"It's a feeling of complete despair. You're angry. You're scared. You're in shock. And you're pissed off. For years, people [in the United States] took it for granted we'd never have a tragedy of this magnitude on American soil.
"It's a completely sad day for the victims -- and everybody."
The Mets, who were scheduled to begin a three-game series against the Pirates last night, arrived in Pittsburgh late Monday night after spending much of their off-day in Miami, where they'd played a four-game series with the Florida Marlins.
Some yesterday were awake early and saw the television reports. Others were asleep and awakened by concerned family members or friends.
"My reaction is the same as every American's -- it's a tragic day in the history of our country," Mets Manager Bobby Valentine said. "Our prayers go out to the people. And I totally support our commander in chief about squaring the score and making sure it doesn't happen again."
Valentine said he thinks one of the planes that struck the Trade Center hit the office of his broker.
"It's on the 69th floor," he said. "I've looked out that window many times."
Utility player Lenny Harris also knew someone in the Trade Center. His wife, Carnettia, has a cousin who works there. Harris didn't know if his wife's cousin was safe.
"I'm very upset," Harris said. "This is a world crisis."
Mets reliever John Franco, born in Brooklyn and a Staten Island resident, said he knew "20 or 30" people who worked at the Trade Center. And he has family members in New York. He learned his 13-year-old daughter, Nicole, was safe. A relative had picked her up at school.
"I don't really want to talk about it," Franco said. "There really are no words. It's devastating. I just know my family's safe. Speaking for our whole team, we're deeply saddened and shocked like the rest of the country. Our prayers go out to the families of the victims."
Former Pirates first baseman Mark Johnson, a Dartmouth graduate, thought Jimmy Horvath, his college catcher who's in the financial business, might have been in the World Trade Center yesterday morning.
"I hope not," said Johnson, who immediately after graduation had a job on Wall Street. "My father-in-law did business in the Trade Center [Monday]. I have two sisters-in-law who work in Manhattan. They're OK. One of them saw and heard the first plane hit -- and bolted. She works in a building next door. She ran and caught a cab and got out of the city.
"I don't really know what to make of it. It's kind of surreal. You don't really know what's up. You're away from your family. You just never think something like is going to happen here."
Former Pirates pitcher Rick White was in his room with his wife, Corie, and daughters Alexis, 4, and Dakota, 2. He didn't see much of the tragedy at first because the girls wanted to watch cartoons on television.
"But there's not going to be a whole lot going on in New York for a long time," White said. "I really don't care if we play the rest of the year or not. Everybody's worried about what's going to happen next.
"I have friends on the police force and a couple who are firemen. I haven't been able to reach them.
"It's amazing. You always watch movies about terrorism and you think how easy something like this could be -- in a movie. But this was a major catastrophe right in front of your eyes. Basically, it could be the start of World War III."
White had planned to drive his family back to their off-season home near Springfield, Ohio, late yesterday afternoon.
"My wife wants to get out of Pittsburgh because it's a big city," White said.
However, those plans changed when the Mets decided to move out of the Westin, which is just across the street from the William S. Moorhead Federal Building here.
Mets General Manager Steve Phillips, who was in New York, put out the word he didn't want anybody leaving the team.
Westin employees helped the Mets secure 50 rooms at a hotel near the Monroeville Mall.
"The hotel's conduct was great," said Charlie Samuels, the Mets' equipment manager and associate travel director. "I figured the hotels near the [Pittsburgh] airport would be filling up, so I looked the other way."
Major League Baseball security suggested the Mets move out of the Westin because of its proximity to the Moorhead building.
"We look out our windows and see the Federal Building," Valentine said. "It wasn't a security issue. It was more a case of possible copycats and other nonsense.
"It was a better-safe-than-sorry situation. We are a New York team."
"We would have stayed [at the Westin] if it was not next to the Federal Building," said Jay Horwitz, the Mets vice-president for media relations. "We were advised to err on the side of precaution."
The Mets planned to spend the night in Monroeville and return to the Westin this morning. Then await word on whether tonight's game will be played.
"I wouldn't even call baseball secondary at this point," Piazza said. "The business at hand is to figure out the safety of the country, to take a few days to reorganize, keep everybody together and grieve and see how we can help."
Piazza said he "heard" there might be no major-league games for a week, but there was no official word yesterday.
Don Fehr, head of the players union, was at the Westin yesterday. He was to have had an informational meeting with the Mets, but that was canceled.
He had talked with Paul Beeston, Major League Baseball's chief operating officer, yesterday about resuming play.
"They were preliminary discussions," Fehr said. "In the face of these events, we'll play it by ear and do what's in the best interests of the country. We'll wait and see.
"This is the kind of thing which puts what we do on a day-to-day basis in rather stark relief."
Not all the Mets were in Pittsburgh yesterday.
Shortstop Rey Ordonez, who lives in Florida, stayed there and was scheduled to fly into Pittsburgh yesterday. He didn't make it because of the closing of all the airports.
Three minor-leaguers who'd been called up from the Mets' Class AAA Norfolk minor-league team also were stranded in Virginia because of the closings.
However, catcher Jason Phillips, a fourth call-up, did make it. He and his wife, Kelly, decided to drive from Norfolk to Pittsburgh Monday.
Another Met who didn't make it was pitcher Al Leiter, who was scheduled to start last night. He flew home to New York from Miami because his daughter, Lindsay, had her first day of school Monday.
Leiter was aboard a USAirways flight at 9:10 a.m. yesterday. However, the plane had not left the gate at LaGuardia yet, and the pilot announced there would be a delay.
Twenty minutes later, it turned out there wouldn't be a flight at all.
Leiter rented a car and began riding to Philadelphia, thinking he could fly from there to Pittsburgh.
"I'm thinking I still have a game to get to," he said.
However, he quickly learned from radio reports there wouldn't be a game.
"Baseball is so secondary now," Leiter said. "I feel vulnerable. I feel violated. And I'm so ... angry."
Piazza, just before boarding a bus that would take the Mets to Monroeville, said he would spend last night watching more television. More history.
"I don't know what [else] you can do," he said softly. "It's just so sad.
God Bless