ATLANTA -- Marlins manager Don Mattingly and second baseman Joe Panik weren’t in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, but their connection to the city made the tragic events hit close to home.
With 2021 marking 20 years since that fateful day, the pair reflected on what it meant to them and their community.
Mattingly starred for the New York Yankees for 14 seasons before retiring in 1995, while Panik was born in Yonkers before growing up in East Fishkill, an hour and a half north of Manhattan.
Panik was in his sixth-grade classroom at Van Wyck Junior High when students slowly started getting pulled out of class. By noon, only a handful of students were left and the school made an announcement over the loudspeaker to explain what had happened, which left him in shock.
“You’re just so surprised, kind of shook that something like this could happen on your home soil and so close to home,” Panik said. “Thankfully, nobody close to me was directly affected, but at the same time, it was just an eerie feeling for the next couple days to weeks. Even though I was 10 years old, I had an understanding of what was going on. It was a very sad moment for everybody in our area.”
Mattingly was on his farm in Evansville, Indiana, cleaning his horse barn, and remembers hearing the news over the radio. He hurried back up to his office to watch what was happening on television and found himself glued to the set for the next month.
Since he played so much of his career in New York, Mattingly says he feels like he grew up there, having felt a close connection and sense for the people. He made a trip to New York in the winter and visited Ground Zero with some friends on the police force.
“They had invited me to come down, and they were involved with it, and I could see how much it had touched them,” Mattingly said. “Obviously, still then it was raw. Obviously a little ways down the road, things get done quickly, but it was pretty raw. Just seeing that area and how many people it was affecting and how many people that were involved with that.”
Both Panik and Mattingly mentioned how special it was to see baseball unite people in the aftermath. Although Panik grew up a Yankees fan, Mike Piazza’s iconic home run for the Mets in the first sporting event in New York after the attacks sticks out in his mind.
“I remember watching that first game and Piazza hitting that home run,” Panik recalled. “Just as a baseball fan in general, as a New Yorker, just the pride in the people that put their lives on the line running into the building. Baseball playing a part of it, just bringing people together was a huge moment.”