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September 11, 2019
Comerica Park, Detroit Michigan:
The dark gray clouds and periodic thunderstorms that rolled through the metro-Detroit area last Wednesday were a stark departure from the clear blue skies of September 11, 2001. As I tuned in that afternoon to local radio stations while driving to Comerica Park, the weather forecasts raised doubts the game would proceed as scheduled. As it turned out, the game between the Tigers and Yankees was, in fact, postponed due to weather. But while waiting in the press box for that official announcement, I used the time and the vantage point to reflect on a few things about the connections between baseball and America.
Baseball has been characterized as our national pastime. For decades, baseball has carried an unwritten obligation to elevate the spirit of the country in its own way, when it can, and as it feels it must. In 1955, the late Hall of Fame radio broadcaster, Ernie Harwell published: "The Game for All America." Many, including myself, regard it as the penultimate essay on baseball. Without specifically saying so, it acknowledges that it's just a game - an entertaining diversion in a world full of real problems - but one that uplifts the spirit of our country. It's a history lesson and a tribute in words.
A row of six monuments behind the leftfield wall of Comerica Park carries a history lesson and pays tribute to baseball, too. On this particular day, the nearby flag in left-centerfield hung at half-staff in tribute to the thousands of Americans who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. As much as Cobb, Gehringer, Greenberg, Newhouser, Horton and Kaline have etched their monumental baseball names into the memories of Tigers fans, the events of that day eighteen years ago remain seared in the memories of most who were old enough to witness it. The flag carries those memories.
The pregame ceremonies were expected to honor first responders, and the national anthem was to be performed by Martin Rucker, a veteran Detroit firefighter who had sung the anthem on 9/11 last year, and on other occasions. And the New York Yankees, contending for the playoffs this season, just as they had in 2001, were expected to take the field against the Tigers.
Our country rallied around New York in the days after 9/11/2001. We mourned with them, prayed for them, and lifted them up through charitable acts and gestures of goodwill. The Yankees organization, along with all of the Major League Baseball clubs, united as well to do the same for our country in an effort to reclaim a sense of normalcy in an otherwise chaotic time.
We remember. We remember the blue skies. We remember the smoke and ash. We remember the lives that were lost. We remember the heroes who rushed in to help. We remember that baseball suspended games for a week.
But we also remember that baseball - like the rest of America - resumed. And weeks later when, in a small but significantly uplifting act, President Bush took the mound at Yankee Stadium to throw the ceremonial first pitch before Game Three of the World Series.
America had changed, indeed. So had the world in which we lived. But we held on to our values.
Exactly eighteen years later, storms rolled into the metro-Detroit area. The game between the Yankees and Tigers was postponed.
Sure, I was disappointed as I exited the park, but I took another walk to see those monuments. And I was reminded again with a rush and flurry of all those "baseball things" that keep my priorities straight and my perspective centered.
That flag is near the monuments. No, I corrected myself: the monuments are near the flag. It's nothing compared to the iconic image of the Marines hoisting the colors on Iwo Jima... but, in its own significant way, baseball does what it can to lift the spirit of our country.
The game was rained out.
The pregame ceremonies and the anthem were rained out.
But on September 11, 2019, our flag was still there.
Comerica Park, Detroit Michigan:
The dark gray clouds and periodic thunderstorms that rolled through the metro-Detroit area last Wednesday were a stark departure from the clear blue skies of September 11, 2001. As I tuned in that afternoon to local radio stations while driving to Comerica Park, the weather forecasts raised doubts the game would proceed as scheduled. As it turned out, the game between the Tigers and Yankees was, in fact, postponed due to weather. But while waiting in the press box for that official announcement, I used the time and the vantage point to reflect on a few things about the connections between baseball and America.
Baseball has been characterized as our national pastime. For decades, baseball has carried an unwritten obligation to elevate the spirit of the country in its own way, when it can, and as it feels it must. In 1955, the late Hall of Fame radio broadcaster, Ernie Harwell published: "The Game for All America." Many, including myself, regard it as the penultimate essay on baseball. Without specifically saying so, it acknowledges that it's just a game - an entertaining diversion in a world full of real problems - but one that uplifts the spirit of our country. It's a history lesson and a tribute in words.
A row of six monuments behind the leftfield wall of Comerica Park carries a history lesson and pays tribute to baseball, too. On this particular day, the nearby flag in left-centerfield hung at half-staff in tribute to the thousands of Americans who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. As much as Cobb, Gehringer, Greenberg, Newhouser, Horton and Kaline have etched their monumental baseball names into the memories of Tigers fans, the events of that day eighteen years ago remain seared in the memories of most who were old enough to witness it. The flag carries those memories.
The pregame ceremonies were expected to honor first responders, and the national anthem was to be performed by Martin Rucker, a veteran Detroit firefighter who had sung the anthem on 9/11 last year, and on other occasions. And the New York Yankees, contending for the playoffs this season, just as they had in 2001, were expected to take the field against the Tigers.
Our country rallied around New York in the days after 9/11/2001. We mourned with them, prayed for them, and lifted them up through charitable acts and gestures of goodwill. The Yankees organization, along with all of the Major League Baseball clubs, united as well to do the same for our country in an effort to reclaim a sense of normalcy in an otherwise chaotic time.
We remember. We remember the blue skies. We remember the smoke and ash. We remember the lives that were lost. We remember the heroes who rushed in to help. We remember that baseball suspended games for a week.
But we also remember that baseball - like the rest of America - resumed. And weeks later when, in a small but significantly uplifting act, President Bush took the mound at Yankee Stadium to throw the ceremonial first pitch before Game Three of the World Series.
America had changed, indeed. So had the world in which we lived. But we held on to our values.
Exactly eighteen years later, storms rolled into the metro-Detroit area. The game between the Yankees and Tigers was postponed.
Sure, I was disappointed as I exited the park, but I took another walk to see those monuments. And I was reminded again with a rush and flurry of all those "baseball things" that keep my priorities straight and my perspective centered.
That flag is near the monuments. No, I corrected myself: the monuments are near the flag. It's nothing compared to the iconic image of the Marines hoisting the colors on Iwo Jima... but, in its own significant way, baseball does what it can to lift the spirit of our country.
The game was rained out.
The pregame ceremonies and the anthem were rained out.
But on September 11, 2019, our flag was still there.
Happy sUmmer!
From the edge of the Grand River as it winds through Grand Ledge, Michigan, colorful blooms, shady trees, and warmer days remind us that summer is here and Fall days are around the bend.