Remembering September 11
Written by Christopher Corazon, Sunday September 11 2011
Today is the 10th anniversary of September 11. While there are many tributes, my best memory I already wrote in a blog 2 years ago. I don't usually repost blogs, but today, it seems to be worthwhile.
September 11 (from 2009)
When I think about this day, I think about the many sacrifices made by great heroes. I also think of the losses of family that can never be replaced. The day invokes many thoughts.
I was supposed to fly up to Boston today, but my itinerary changed, and I came up on the 10th. My sister said “You might not want to fly on the 11th anyway” and in a way, she was right. Just to think of the way this day has changed our lives. There are so many thoughts and memories. The way baseball games now pause and sing “God Bless America” with “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” during the 7th inning stretch is a direct result from September 11. But my clearest memory is of Matt.
Matt (not his real name) was a right fielder on one of my Cardinal teams. It was in what was called the “Senior League”, which was really a Pony league. It was for kids who were too old for Little League and too young for Babe Ruth. Some were quite good at Little League, but were not going to make it to Babe Ruth. Matt was one of them. He was probably pretty good on a smaller diamond. At least, he was in his memory. But Little League is played on a 60 foot diamond. Pony is 80 feet, and Babe Ruth is a regulation 90 feet.
Matt would make errors, but always had an alibi. He would run in from the outfield, and he would say “I would have caught that one coach, but the sun was in my eyes.” Or “The wind carried that one, coach.” He told so many tales, that we called him Alibi Ike, after the classic short story by Ring Lardner.
We won the championship that year (1996), even with Alibi Ike. But that would be the last year that he played. Maybe he realized the game had caught up with him. And I did not see him until I was watching the news a few days after September 11, 2001. He was on Good Morning America. He had grown into quite a young man. His father had been on one of the planes, and his sister was stuck in England, and because there were no commercial flights, she was going to miss her father’s funeral.
Nobody missed their father’s funeral. I went with my son. It was at a Temple on the Riverway in Boston. I could not get in past the lobby, because there were so many people, and Matt’s sister made it from England. And I did go to the reception at Matt’s house. Matt caught up to me just as I was leaving his house.
“Hey coach, remember I was the best right fielder you ever had,” he said.
“Just keep telling yourself that,” I told him.
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