George Bush throws the first pitch at the Yankees game, Oct. 30, 2001. Photo via MLB.com.
The country remembered the 20th anniversary of 9/11 this year.
Neighbor and former President George Bush was a key player in the aftermath of those attacks. Part of his job was to help the country begin to move on.
One way he did that was throwing the ceremonial first pitch at a New York Yankees game. It was Oct. 30, Game 3 of the 2001 World Series. The Yankees were playing the Diamondbacks.
Bush threw a strike to the catcher, Todd Greene, who played in the MLB for 11 years.
“You can use all the words to describe it,” Greene told the MLB. “It was hair-raising, different. Just an awesome healing moment for our country.”
The city was on high alert for another attack. Security guards were everywhere at the game.
“It’s by far my best moment [in baseball] because of the significance for the healing process that our country needed at the time,” Greene said. “So, I don’t know what I could have done — from a player’s standpoint — to top what our country needed at the time, which is what President Bush did.”
As Bush walked back to the Yankees’ dugout, crowds yelled “USA!”
You can watch the moment here.
