|
It was the first set of baseball games after the terrorist attacks. The games were being played in Holbrook, NY on Long Island about 50 miles east of NYC. ( For those of you in other parts of the country, Long Island is almost an extension of NYC and many work or have involvements there.) A number of fellow umpires, league members, coaches and player parents had direct involvement in the aftermath. My partner and I had a discussion before the game if they should have been cancelled. The league left it up to the teams to decide. I know I felt that although our lives have been altered forever, life must go on at some point. It was a game between my home leagues 13 year-old travel team and another NJBL team. I was working for Western Suffolk Baseball Umpires Association and just happened to get the game. Our league President is the coach, so it was good to hear that everyone was all right even though many toiled at ground zero. I passed along the story of one of the popular Challenger Division coaches (I run the program) who was a Port Authority detective. The PA staff was virtually wiped out in the Trade Center. My wife found the courage to call on Thursday and found out he was fine. He found the time from 16 hours shifts to let us know he was devastated by the sights, but alive and well. He even talked about showing up Sunday if they started restoring days off (that would be too emotional). We lined the players up along the baselines and had a moment of silence before the game began. Anyhow, to understand that airplanes are part of the atmosphere of our fields, we are in the middle of the air traffic circling Kennedy and LaGuardia airports and in the flight path of MacArthur airport, a large suburban airport, less than two miles away. Not seeing planes just doesnt happen. About 10:15 in the morning, a little over an hour into the game, the eerie sound of a passing small jet caught out attention. We all looked up. Soon after a big red, white and blue Southwest jet came roaring past shortly after takeoff. We all seemed to stop and look up. I think it was intentional by Southwest to use a jet with that color seem to open up the airport. The deafening sound was music to our ears. Planes still didnt circle for the New York City airports although an occasional high flying jet could be seen. By the middle of the second game a parade of planes began taking off. It was almost a sense of returning to the new definition of normal. By the way, neither game was close. Ronkonkoma overwhelmed the competition. As the games dragged, five hours and fifteen minutes for the double header and break, thoughts floated to hoping the pitchers threw strikes and players made the plays so we could get out of there. It was a refreshing diversion and overlooking balks by inexperienced pitchers and widening the strike zone was the fastest route to ending it. Perhaps the healing process has begun.
Ed Hernandez
|