Mike Piazza remembers the outpouring of support and love from the New York Mets in the aftermath of those life altering days after 9/11. On MLB.com, they share how Mike made a connection with a boy who lost his father on that fateful day.

A writer friend of Piazza's put him in touch with the young son of a
North Jersey fireman who had perished in one of the towers. Piazza and
the boy spent a day hanging out together. They made a connection.
Piazza checks up on the boy, now a teenager, and is heartened to hear
he's doing well.

“It wasn't anything contrived,” Piazza said. “We didn't feel obligated
to do these things. We did a lot of things behind the scenes, with no
cameras around. We just wanted to do something. What were we going to
do? Sit around watching the news and be depressed?”

Mike shares how the Mets led the charge around baseball to try and do their best to help those effected by the horrible tragedy, and mend a city with a broken heart.

The Mets took the lead, and Piazza was their leader.

“They were always active in the community,” he said. “There were a lot
of firefighters and policemen who took us to hospitals to talk to
people, and to Ground Zero to talk to workers there. We had a mass at
the stadium, and they'd have a roll call of the guys from that precinct
who'd passed on. It was touching to experience all of that.

“The Mets would let any firefighter or policeman on the field during
batting practice. They'd come down on the field and we'd talk. The club
gave away tons of tickets.

“The owners of the club, Mr. [Fred] Wilpon and Mr. [Nelson] Doubleday,
spoke to us in a team meeting. Both men were very connected to the
city, and they were emotional. We were just trying to figure out
logistically what we should do. It was a team effort. I can't take any
more credit than anybody else.”

Mike recalls “The Home Run”, that sent shivers down the spines of anyone who witnessed it, and gave the city a much needed distraction from the events of the past week.

Except, of course, for The Home Run. There has been none quite like it in the history of the baseball-mad city.

It was the first baseball game played in New York after 9/11. Shea
Stadium. The mournful bagpipes at the outset. For once, more tears than
cheers. Raw emotion everywhere, in every face.

“We were all drained,” Piazza said. “We were all stretched from
everything that had gone on. To come back and play baseball, we were
all kind of perplexed. Where does this fit in? I mean, what are we
doing here?

“It was surreal, really, the whole night.”