PHOENIX — There can never be another 2001 World Series.
Even if the Arizona Diamondbacks win this year, their first championship run will forever be considered one of, if not the greatest World Series in history. And baseball was only a small part of it.
It's hard to remember, but there was a time before the War on Terror, before strict airline security, before everyone knew why you have to take off your shoes and belt.
For almost the entire 2001 baseball season, we were all that innocent. Baseball was baseball and no one knew what was coming.
The Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks
The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks happened near the end of the baseball season.
Two planes hit the World Trade Center towers. Another one hit the Pentagon. And a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
The Twin Towers fell and rescuers searched for remains for months. Thousands of people died, and countless others were hurt and affected in ways that would last for decades.
All sporting events stopped for at least a week. How could anyone play something as trivial as a game when this had happened?
But slowly, sports came back. The baseball season continued, though it would last longer than previous seasons because of the pause.
The 2001 World Series
The New York Yankees would head to the World Series, just over a month after the worst tragedy to ever befall New Yorkers. On the other side, an improbable World Series team: the Arizona Diamondbacks.
There were questions at the time. Could you even play a game like this? The World Series was one of the most visible sporting events in the nation and baseball is literally "America's pastime." What better target would there be for another attack? Would it be safe? Security would be tight...but yes, it would be played.
Games 1 and 2
Games 1 and 2 of the series were held in Phoenix.
The Diamondbacks won both handily, 9-1 and 4-0. The series then headed to Ground Zero of the attacks, New York.
Game 3
Pres. George W. Bush would throw out the first pitch of Game 3 in Yankee Stadium, not far from Ground Zero where the ruins of the World Trade Center were still burning, weeks after the attacks.
Security was intense. The president wore a Kevlar vest under an FDNY jacket for what would become arguably the most famous first pitch in history.
"U-S-A!"
That first pitch was symbolic. Bush walked to the pitcher's mound, alone, unescorted ... though snipers were stationed among the light and Secret Service agents were on the field. He didn't step forward to shorten the distance. He wound up and threw a strike to Yankees backup catcher Todd Greene.
The crowd exploded in cheers and chants of "U-S-A!".
New York would go on to win Game 3 with a score of 2-1.
It would come down to Game 7
Game 4 would go to the Yankees, as would Game 5. The Diamondbacks tied it up in Game 6 in Phoenix and it all came down Game 7 on Nov. 4, 2001.
Throughout the season, the Diamondbacks had a good luck charm. Trumpet player Jesse McGuire played the National Anthem. McGuire played lead trumpet for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in New York City but lived in Phoenix.
The National Anthem
McGuire became famous for how he played The Star Spangled Banner ... with power, feeling and soaring and stratospherically high key change and a high note that seems both impossible and perfectly played.
McGuire hit the note and a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber flew low and slow over downtown Phoenix and the final baseball game of the 2001 season.
Nine innings later, the Diamondbacks had tied it up, 2-2.
The bases were loaded. It was the bottom of the 9th. Two outs. A base hit would win it. It was all or nothing. Outfielder Luis Gonzalez stepped up to the plate.
The pitch came, Gonzo swung ... a line drive to center. Diamondbacks fans hoped for one thing: a bounce. A bounce, a bobble, a missed glove, anything that would let the scoring run come home.
It bounced.
Shortstop Jay Bell ran for home, stepped on the plate and the bench emptied. The Diamondbacks were World Series Champions.
Healing from tragedy
Afterward, there was no animosity, no grudges, no rivalry that developed between the Diamondbacks and the Yankees.
Because when it came down to it, even though fans wanted their own team to win, the 2001 World Series was about proving that normal was possible. It was about showing that an unthinkable tragedy would not hold Americans down forever.
There will never be another game like it.
