KC's Swanee recalls Bush's 1st pitch after 9/11

MINNEAPOLIS -- Nearly 20 years later, Mike Swanson still gets goosebumps telling the story.

The Royals vice president of communications was the senior director of public relations with the D-backs in 2001, and he was on the field when President George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch of Game 3 of the 2001 World Series between Arizona and the Yankees.

It was Oct. 30, 2001 -- just 49 days after the deadly terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“He got up on the mound -- and I’m getting goosebumps telling the story -- he put his thumb in the air, and threw the perfect pitch,” Swanson said. “I couldn’t care less what your political affiliation is. For that one moment … God, that was cool.

“You could see the [players] just in awe of the whole thing. It was really emotional. I’m not sure there was a dry eye in the place when the President got on the mound and let that thing go. … To literally be standing on the warning track in front of the screen, to witness the whole thing up close. It’s a lot higher on the priority scale of that long list of stuff that I go, ‘What the hell was I doing there? How did this [guy] from Raytown, Mo., get to do all this stuff?’”

Swanson, who is retiring at the end of this season after 43 years in the industry, was standing on the field for the pregame ceremonies, including the first pitch. He watched the tattered American flag, recovered from Ground Zero, carried out to center field. Then he noticed seven umpires instead of the usual six for World Series games.

“I said, ‘Seven?’” Swanson said. “I looked at the seventh one, and he had grenades, guns, wire in his ear. He was a Secret Service agent. So you realize it and go, ‘That makes sense,’ and it just gives you chills. The reality of what you’re witnessing starts to shake you up a little.

“And then I start to scan. And there are helicopters flying over, military helicopters, and you can’t miss that. And then in the light towers there are guns in every section going all the way around Yankee Stadium. I do a full 360 and go, ‘Holy crap.’ And that’s when I said, ‘We’re either in the safest place in the world or we’re in the worst place in the world.’ It just gave you the creeps.”

The day before Game 3, Swanson and the D-backs visited Ground Zero. There, they witnessed up close the immense amount of death and destruction that occurred. Swanson has never forgotten the trip, including the sergeant’s name, Lisa Gong, that helped set up the visit.

“I’ll never get the smell out of my head.” Swanson said. “It was almost 10 weeks after the attack, and yet, they would still open up a pocket and smoke and smolder would come out.”

The D-backs lost all three games in New York, something Swanson recalls wondering if “that’s what was supposed to happen.” But Arizona came back to win the World Series on Luis Gonzalez’s walk-off single in Game 7.

Twenty years later, what Swanson experienced in New York at the end of October is still seared into his memory.

“There are things that seem like they were 20 years ago,” Swanson said. “There are things that seem like they were 30-40 years ago. And everything about 9/11 was like it was yesterday.”

On Saturday, 20 years to the date since the attacks, Major League Baseball and all 30 clubs continued the tradition of honoring those whose lives were affected or lost in the tragic events of that day and paid tribute to the people who serve our communities and country today.

The occasion has brought back memories from around MLB. Royals manager Mike Matheny was the Cardinals' catcher in 2001 and watched Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck’s iconic speech at Busch Stadium when baseball returned a week after the attacks. It helped him form the belief that baseball has an impact in bringing a community and nation together.

Matheny wasn’t sure what to expect when the Cardinals returned to action against the Brewers on Sept. 17, 2001. Some were divided on whether they should be playing at all. Matheny thought there might be an empty stadium.

“Do you want to be anywhere where people are congregated in large numbers?” Matheny said. “I was wondering if -- that was before cutout days -- but I envisioned this could be just us in the stadium.

“When you start getting people together, you realize families are bigger than just blood. Then our nation finding something to bring us together was, I think, just huge. What else was going to do that if baseball didn’t do it? That’s the way I looked at it. There were other sports, and they were going to end up taking the lead too, but it seemed like baseball was kind of running point there.”