Callaway on 9/11; Mets Wear First Responder Caps

Photo by Jason Schott.

On Wednesday, Mets Manager Mickey Callaway wore a red New York City Fire Department Cap in honor of September 11 to his pregame press conference.


The Mets wear caps honoring first responders on the anniversary of 9/11, a tradition they started in the aftermath of the attacks, when they wore them every game the rest of the 2001 season.

The caps honor the FDNY, New York City Police Department and Port Authority Police Dept.

They wore them during batting practice on Wednesday and their regular caps with a 9/11 patch on the side during the game.

Mickey Callaway. Photo by Jason Schott.

"It's a special day," Callaway said. "It's a sad day in our history, and also a day to be celebrated because this city, this country can overcome anything, and it shows the will and the nature of New Yorkers to be able to come back stronger than ever, and continue to be the greatest city on Earth, and we have the greatest country on Earth, that is in total support of this event and is going to recognize this event forever.

"I'm sure everybody has a special memory in mind for this. The one for me is I got to - obviously we all know where we were that day - on the one-year anniversary, I got to pitch for the Angels that day, I have the lineup card from that day, and it has the ribbon on it with 'We shall not forget.' I've got it in my house hanging up, and that's probably the thing I like the most, just because I got to pitch on that day, the one-year anniversary of this event, and I think it's something else - the first responders that risk their lives.

"We have a young man here that comes to almost every game that lost his father in that, and I think the Mets players are kind of like his father now, and it's a special thing for that young man to be able to come to our games every single day.

"It's an event that we will never forget, and there are some tragedies, but out of that came a lot of strong people, you know, and that young man is one of them. He's one of the happiest guys on the planet that I've ever been around."

The Arizona Diamondbacks wore the first responder caps during batting practice Wednesday afternoon.

Diamondbacks during batting practice. Photo by Jason Schott.