September 23, 2001: New York City holds a memorial service to the victims of the terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center, 12 days earlier. It is held at the largest outdoor seating area within the City's Five Boroughs: Yankee Stadium.
In spite of the Stadium's capacity of 57,545, it is believed that just 20,000 people attended. Most likely, it was because only relatives and colleagues of those lost were permitted to attend, rather than that people were still afraid to gather in big crowds.
All 4 major U.S. TV networks broadcast it live. Prayers were offered by Edward Cardinal Egan, the Archbishop of New York, and also from leaders of Protestant, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, and even Muslim congregations, showing that they were all New Yorkers, that they were all Americans, and that they had all felt the losses of that awful Tuesday morning.
Also speaking were Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Governor George Pataki, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. The current President, George W. Bush, did not attend. Former Mayors David Dinkins and Ed Koch, and former Governors Mario Cuomo and Hugh Carey, attended, but did not speak.
On September 11, 2002, the Yankees dedicated a Monument to the victims and rescue workers in the Stadium's Monument Park. As with the other Monuments and Plaques, it was moved to the new Yankee Stadium in 2009.
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September 23, 2001 was a Sunday. Major League Baseball had restarted on Monday, September 17, with the week's worth of postponed games moved to the week after the originally-intended end of the regular season. These games were played on September 23:
* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The Yankees scored 2 runs in the 8th inning, 1 in the 9th to send the game to extra innings, and 1 in the top of the 10th, when John Parrish walked Bernie Williams with the bases loaded, forcing Nick Johnson home. This made a winning pitcher out of Nick Johnson, in relief of Orlando "El Duque" Hernández.
Cal Ripken, in his last few days as an active player, hit what turned out to be the last home run of his career, his 407th. Johnson homered for the Yankees, going 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Derek Jeter got the day off, with Enrique Wilson playing shortstop.
* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 5-4 at Shea Stadium. Brian Jordan led off the top of the 11th inning with a home run, his 2nd homer of the game, making John Smoltz a winning pitcher in relief of Tom Glavine. Joe McEwing hit a home run for the Mets.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Montreal Expos, 5-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 12-6 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Florida Marlins, 5-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Johnny Estrada hit a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to win it. Travis Leed went 4-for-4 with 2 solo homers.
* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 1-0 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Joe Kennedy allowed 4 hits over 7 innings, and Esteban Yan finished the 5-hit shutout. Steve Cox hit a home run in the 1st inning, for the only run of the game.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Rookie Albert Pujols went 0-for-4.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-3 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-3 with a walk.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Anaheim Angels, 5-2 at The Ballpark in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-6 at Enron Field (now Daikin Park) in Houston.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 11-2 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack
Murphy Stadium). Barry Bonds hit his 65th * and 66th * home runs of the season. Tony Gwynn, in his last few days as an active player, pinch-hit, and did not reach base.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-4 at the Network Associates Coliseum (as the Oakland Coliseum was then known). Mark Mulder won his 20th game of the season, outpitching Freddy García. Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-5.
The NFL also returned to action, after postponing the previous weekend's games:
* The New York Jets beat the New England Patriots, 10-3 at Foxborough Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. Jet linebacker Mo Lewis knocked Pat quarterback Drew Bledsoe out of the game. Maybe he shouldn't have done that: Bledsoe was replaced at quarterback by Tom Brady. I have a separate entry for this event.
* The New York Giants beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 13-3 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Carolina Panthers, 24-16 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans, 13-6 at Alltel Stadium (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville, Florida.
* The Miami Dolphins beat the Oakland Raiders, 18-15 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. Jay Fiedler scored on a quarterback sneak with 5 seconds to play, to win the game.
* The Cleveland Browns beat the Detroit Lions, 24-14 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field) in Cleveland.
* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens, 21-10 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.
* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Buffalo Bills, 42-26 at the RCA Dome (formerly the Hoosier Dome) in
Indianapolis.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 17-10 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
* The San Diego Chargers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 32-21 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.
* The Denver Broncos beat the Arizona Cardinals, 38-17 at Sun Devil Stadium (now Mountain America Stadium) in
the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.
* The St. Louis Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers, 30-26 at 3Com Park (as Candlestick Park was then known) in San
Francisco. The Rams-Niners rivalry had lost a lot since the Rams left Los Angeles, but it would eventually be restored.
* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Seattle Seahawks, 27-3 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. The Seahawks were playing at the University of Washington's complex while the Kingdome was being torn down, and what is now Lumen Field was built on the site.
* The next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Green Bay Packers beat the Washington Redskins, 37-0 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
* And the New Orleans Saints, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a bye week.
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