Brock, Shelton reflect on events of Sept. 11

PITTSBURGH -- Twenty years ago on Saturday, the Twin Towers fell the morning of Sept. 11, after the first two of four planes hijacked by terrorists were redirected and crashed into them. In its wake, it left thousands dead, tens of thousands injured and lasting damage in New York City.

Pirates first-base and outfield coach Tarrik Brock was nearly part of that tragic total.

Brock told AT&T Sportsnet that he was due to fly on United Airlines Flight 175 that departed from Logan Airport in Boston en route to Los Angeles International Airport, which is near Hawthorne, Calif., where Brock went to high school. Playing in independent ball in Elmira, N.Y., at the time, he rushed to fly home for the birth of his second son, Christopher, on Sept. 11.

That flight was redirected by a group of terrorists and struck the South Tower, killing all 65 passengers on board. But travel plans delayed Brock, and in turn, he now puts on his Pirates uniform every day knowing he was spared.

“I am here because we left a little bit later,” Brock told AT&T Sportsnet. “So I live my life knowing I’m on extra, borrowed time because I missed a flight.”

Brock now serves on the staff of Pirates manager Derek Shelton, who was the skipper of the Class A Short Season Staten Island Yankees in 2002, then an affiliate of the New York Yankees.

The team’s ballpark is home to a gorgeous view of Manhattan, with the Statue of Liberty holding her torch over the left-field wall. Until Shelton’s 2002 season with the team, it had also featured a picturesque look at the Twin Towers over right field, standing out amid the crowded skyscrapers of downtown New York City.

Shelton showed up to the ballpark on an off-day on Sept. 11, 2002, the first without the Twin Towers framing the background, and what he took in, he’ll never forget.

“To be there on Sept. 11 the year after and to see all the fighter jets flying in Lower Manhattan, that’s one of the things I reflect on every single year on the anniversary -- of being in [New York City] and watching that, in the protection of our country,” Shelton said.

Though there were a few people like Brock who escaped a tragic fate, there were many, many more aboard those flights on Sept. 11 who perished, including all 40 passengers aboard Flight 93 from Newark to Los Angeles.

The families of those passengers were at PNC Park on Saturday to be honored before the Pirates’ game against the Nationals. There were nearly 100 in all, and the Bucs and Nats spent time thanking them and sharing condolences with a handshake line across the top of the infield dirt.

The families make the trip every year to Somerset County, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after the passengers fought back against the hijackers, who were headed to terrorize Washington, D.C.

Their bravery prevented further casualties on one of the darkest days in American history.

“To those families that are grieving on this anniversary, my heart goes out to you,” Brock said. “I put my uniform on. When I wake up every day, I’m thankful and I’m remembering the moment that my life was spared. So my heart goes out to everyone [affected].”