MLB pauses to remember 9/11 attacks

Clubs and players throughout Major League Baseball took time on Sunday to remember the first responders and others who lost their lives in the attacks 15 years ago on Sept. 11, 2001.

In the Bronx, the Yankees recognized servicemen and women from Walter Reed and the Ft. Belvoir Wounded Warriors before their game against the Rays. After that ceremony, the New York Police Department Emerald Society Pipes and Drums performed “America the Beautiful.” Later, FDNY firefighters unfurled a giant American flag across the outfield, as firefighter Frank Pizzaro’s rendition of the national anthem followed a moment of silence.

The flag at Yankee Stadium on Sunday was the same one famously unfurled at the original Yankee Stadium in 2001, when President George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Game 3 of the World Series.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi and closer Dellin Betances, a native New Yorker, placed a wreath at Monument Park’s 9/11 monument before the game.

Rays temporary coach Jared Sandberg started at third base for the Devil Rays on Sept. 25, 2001, against the Yankees, in the first game at Yankee Stadium following the attacks.

“It was very emotional. To come together as a city and provide a sporting event where we could kind of come together after a huge tragedy, it was definitely special to be a part of it,” Sandberg said. “Baseball was second to what was going on here in the city and around the country at that time.”

The Mets were in Atlanta, where footage was shown of the first game played in New York at Shea Stadium between the Mets and Braves after the attacks occurred. That was, of course, the game in which Mike Piazza hit a game-winning homer in the eighth inning.

Before Sunday’s game, Mets players wore hats to recognize each of the agencies that were first responders at Ground Zero.

“I always think it’s a tremendous honor, something to honor those people who go through what they had to go through on a daily basis,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “Especially reading the papers all the time about what’s happened around the country, these guys need to be rewarded. Because I’ll tell you one thing, when I go home at night, I feel safe. It’s certainly our way of trying to say, ‘Thank you.'”

In our nation’s capital, events included a performance by the Army Drill Team, a recognition of Washington D.C. first responders and a flyover. More than …

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