Mike Piazza's emotional post-9_11 home run - Relive that unforgettable night in Queens | MLB Vault

The Mets were on the road on September 11, 2001. But when they returned home and after baseball paused its schedule for 10 days, they became the first sports team to play in New York since the terrorist attacks. I can't describe that week and I can't describe what it was like to come back and play because I don't remember any of it in a way. It was a Friday and the Mets were playing the Braves in the midst of a pennant race. The night would be unlike any other the players and their fans ever experienced. A day I will never ever forget. It was a decision, should we go, should we go? We were terrified because here it is a ball field and with terrorism and stuff. And we decided as a family that there was someplace their father, my husband would want us to be, to try to at least enjoy yourself, would be Shea Stadium. It wasn't a competition against our most hated rivals. It was so much bigger than anything I had ever been part of before that it was just inevitable that something really special was happening. The minute I heard the bagpipes, you know, I just, I couldn't, I lost it, you know. And I remember looking up and praying to God saying, Lord, please give me the strength to get through this because I don't know if I can. I never thought I'd see my boys happy again. It was very solemn at that point to me, everything hurt. I think the baseball part became secondary until we started getting deeper into the game. The Mets were trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth when Mike Piazza came to the plate with a chance to put New York ahead. And here's the, in this spot, down a run late in the game. The next thing you know, here comes Piazza to the plate and the energy level of the state, I'm not getting goosebumps talking about it right now, but the energy level of the stadium starts to go and everybody's like, oh, wait a minute. Like, could this possibly happen right now? Mets fans are getting into it now, you can hear the let's go Mets crowd. It's amazing when you're in the right place at the right time and you believe in yourself and you have a lot of people pulling for you, you feel it. And the pitch. When he hit that ball, you heard the crack of it. The place just absolutely erupted. My children, for the first time in 10 days, which I thought would never happen, were cheering and smiling and happy. And it was just, I'm getting the chills now just thinking of it. It was just this incredible release of emotion. And I think, you know, it became evidently clear that people just wanted to cheer about, you know, something. I could never thank him enough for putting the smiles on my children's faces. They saw they could enjoy a baseball game without their father, which I'm sure they probably thought they would never. And making me as a mom realize that, you know what, the kids got a shot at this. They're gonna be okay. I gotta be honest with you. I truly feel uncomfortable when people say, you know, you're a hero, you know, that home run. And I have to disavow myself from that. I don't feel like I was a hero. I really don't. Daddy said, how did you do my job? I said, Michael, gosh, you can't imagine what that home run meant to the country. I mean, it united everybody. Those firefighters smiling to the baseball game. Here were uniformed firefighters who probably lost friends, God forbid, even family. And yet, because Mike Piazza hit a home run, they have something to actually smile about. Shea Stadium has something to smile about. The Mets have won on a two-run homer by Mike Piazza. In the record books, it was just another game in September. But in every other way, it was the biggest and most meaningful moment of Mike Piazza's career.