REMEMBERING 9-11: BASEBALL CALMED US

On Sept. 11, 2001 I was working the day shift on the EMS Ambulance for a town in New Jersey. I sat there in horror of what was actually happening before me eyes. I watched all my co-workers and future husband deploy, never giving it a second thought, and headed into Ground Zero to provide care for the injured. It was truly heroic.

By chance, a bunch of us EMS providers had tickets 5 rows up on the Yankees dugout for the first game back since 9-11. Everything was quiet. Then, the air crafts came over the stadium and it was time to play ball. I never saw so many American flags in the stadium in my life. The bald eagle, the military presence.. we were Americans and proud to be more then ever that day. Chuck Knoblauch in particular, turned to our group, said thank you and threw up some baseballs to my crazy friend with her giant "Chuck" sign. It was that game that made all the horror that happened go away for a while. 9 innings of baseball were our brief distraction...it calmed us all. Thank you Chuck and thank you Derek Jeter for tossing up your wrist band and for making us smile during a time when we lost so many of our own.




--Beth Hucke- BYB Guest Writer & Creator of We Want Nick Swisher to host SNL on Facebook.




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