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= THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
America's pastime returns after tragedy
TUESDAY, SEPT. 18, 2001
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — A flag tucked into his baseball cap, Bob Voss-meyer chomped on a hot dog and settled into his Busch Stadium seat for what he'd been waiting days for; that shout from an umpire — "Play ball."
Six days after terrorist strikes toppled the World Trade Center's twin towers and damaged the Pentagon.
Vossmeyer, 51, understood how tragedy could — perhaps should — idle big-league baseball and make sports look trivial.
"I hate to overshadow the worst thing that happened," Vossmeyer said, his thoughts on the attacks' victims and devastation while waiting for his St. Louis Cardinals to take on Milwaukee. "But I sure did miss baseball."
He wasn't alone, joining
30,527 other fans, back at the field of dreams to forget — at least for a moment — about America's nightmare last week.
Fans supplied with miniature U.S. flags as they headed through the turnstiles quickly put them to use during pre-game ceremonies packed with patriotism.
On the outfield video boards, an animated flag dreo roaring chants of "USA, USA, USA." A massive flag in center field was clutched by firefighters and
police in homage to emergency workers buried last Tuesday when the trade center's towers came crashing down.
More police and firefighters crowded onto the warning track.
A video to Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" blared on the public-address system, greeted by roars when it was done.
Cardinals' broadcaster Jack Buck read a poem he wrote, at one point reciting "we won't start but we will end this fight."
More roars.
Then 21 blasts of fireworks, a moment of silence and the national anthem. More roars, more chants of "USA, USA, USA."
There was no signing of the traditional "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-
Fans made use of their flags. More fireworks. More chants of "USA, USA, USA."
inning stretch. "God Bless America" took its place.
"I'm ready to cry," Tiffany Schwarzer, 31, of Irvine, Calif., said as she sat next to husband Jeff.
The game's six-day idling pared their trek to nine games.
Both were making their first visit to Busch as part of what was to have been a 12-game, coast-to-coast tour of big-league baseball fields.
In terrorism's wake, stadiums will have heightened security the rest of the season.
The biggest changes at Busch Stadium: coolers no longer are allowed, along with backpacks or large bags. Parking is barred within 100 feet of Busch's perimeter, except for authorized
vehicles.
Few fans were put off by the security changes; if anything, they considered them too lax. They just wanted to see and smell a ballpark.
"We may cry for nine innings, but that'S OK," said Judy Swing, attending the game with her her Bill Curcuro.
Both were from Belleville, Ill., and decked out for the occasion — each in T-shirts with last Tuesday's date, a big, bold American flag and the words "In honor of our fallen countrymen."
Returning to the ballpark, Swing said, "is a statement we have to make."
"The big thing I'd like from the crowd is for big applause for the Brewers," she said. "They're Americans, too."
Small turnout for Marlins victory in Canada
The Associated Press
MONTREAL — Luis Castillo's two-run triple highlighted an eight-run sixth inning as the Florida Marlins beat the Montreal Expos 10-6 last night before the smallest Olympic Stadium crowd of the season.
An announced crowd of 3,013 — in fact, no more than 1,000 fans were actually on hand — hushed to a silence for pregame ceremonies to honor the victims of last Tuesday's terrorist attack.
Both teams lined up along the baselines, and only the hum of electricity for stadium lighting could be heard as four scarlet-coated mounties led a procession
of police and rescue service personnel bearing American flags onto the field.
The crowd was silenced once again with one out in the fifth inning when Expos starter Javier Vazquez was struck flush on the front of his batting helmet by a pitch from Ryan Dempster. Vazquez was taken to the hospital for X-rays.
Trailing 6-0 after Montreal scored six times in the fifth. Florida matched a team record in its next at-bat with the seventh eight-run inning in club history.
Vazquez, who had won his six previous starts, left with a 1-0 lead following Peter Bergeron's RBI triple.
Tim Raines and Jose Vidro hit run-
scoring singles to make it 3-0, and Orlando Cabrera hit a bases-clearing double to put the Expos ahead by six.
Geoff Blum singled for Montreal's seventh hit in the inning to chase Dempster. Ricky Bones (4-4) got Lee Stevens to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Britt Reames relieved and allowed six straight hits, including Preston Wilson's two-run double, Mike Lowell's RBI single and Charles Johnson's two-run double as the Martins drew to 6-5.
Castillo tripled to put Florida ahead 7-6,
and Derek Lee drove in the eighth run
Guillermo Mota (1-2) allowed Alex Gonzalez's bunt single to put runners at first and third. Center fielder Bergeron charged in on pinch-hitter Andy Fox's shallow fly to keep the tying run from scoring.
with his second single of the inning.
The Marlins added a pair of runs in the seventh on Kevin Millar's RBI double and Gonzalez's run-scoring single.
Vazquez allowed four hits in five scoreless innings.
Dempster, who was 5-0 with a 2.30 ERA in six previous starts in Montreal, allowed eight hits and six runs in 4 1-3 innings.
Notes Security at the stadium was visibly heightened. Reporters were asked to display the contents of their computer cases as they entered and ticket holders were not permitted to bring bags into the stadium.
Neither team had received their new caps, which feature an American flag on the left side of the crown, in time for the game.
PITTSBURGH — Rey Ordonez's RBI single started a three-run ninth inning, and the New York Mets returned from their trying week off and beat Pittsburgh 4-1 last night.
The Associated Press
Mets return to the field and give New Yorkers a win
two-run double made a winner of John Franco (6-2), a native New Yorker.
Ordonez's hit — it easily could have been scored an error — and pinch-hitter Mark Johnson's
Wearing caps honoring the
New York fire fighters, police and rescue workers, plus American flags on their jerseys and hats, the Mets won their 18th game in 23 outings.
Pirates reliever Mike Fetters
(3-2) started the ninth by h i t t i n g Ts u y o s h i Shinjo with a pitch, then walked Jay
Payton two outs later. Ordonez's shot then hit off third baseman Aramis Ramirez's glove and went into left field, with Shinjo just beating the throw to the plate.
Armando Benitez finished up
for his 39th save. Franco, in the Mets' dugout, got several pats on the back after the final out.
The Mets and Pirates developed one of theNL's best rivalries in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the Pirates once based an ad campaign around disliking New York.
But this was a night for solidarity, not rivalry, as evidenced by the "I Love New York" buttons the Pirates handed out. There were even as many cheers as boos when Ordonez singled in the lead run.
As the two teams stood along the baselines during a brief pregame ceremony featuring the national anthem and
"God Bless America," managers Bobby Valentine and Lloyd McClendon hugged each other.
Numerous fans wore clothes with an American flag design, or wore red, white and blue ribbons or pins. The Pirates wanted to hand out U.S. flags but could not get a delivery in time.
Remarkably, the fans gave the Mets a loud ovation before the game, cheered the good plays by both teams, and at least a half dozen brought signs supporting New York and its rescue workers. They gave with their wallets, too. The Pirates collected about
$100,000 in fan contributions for the New York police and fire rescue fund, or about $10 for every fan.
The paid attendance was 25,902, but that included seats sold for the Mets-Pirates game that was postponed Sept. 11, the day of the attacks in New York. The Pirates estimated the actual attendance was about 10,000.
The Mets talked beforehand of wanting to get on the field again, if only to provide a few hours of diversion for the thousands of rescue and relief workers who have toiled endless hours since Tuesday.
Phillies win, tighten race in NL East
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Scott Rolen hit two home runs off Greg Maddux and the Philadelphia Phillies came back from baseball's six-day break to beat the Atlanta Braves 5-2 last night and tighten the NL East race.
The Phillies won the opener of a four-game series and closed within 2 1/2 games of Atlanta.
The Braves had won six of seven before the terrorist attacks forced the majors to postpone games.
The game began with fans chanting "USA! USA!" and ended with them cheering. But it
took only three batters for Phillies fans to get back in form; they booed after Chipper Jones hit a home run off Robert Person in the first inning.
Person (15-6) won his sixth straight decision. He allowed two runs and six hits in improving to 11-1 since losing to the New York Mets on June 5.
Jose Mesa worked the ninth for his 37th save in 40 chances.
Rolen's homer in the second off Greg Maddux tied it at 1. After Bobby Abreu tripled and started the fourth, Rolen's RBI grounded it 2-1.
Atlanta tied it at 2 in the fifth when Rey Sanchez tripled and scored on Paul Bako's groundout.
Rolen put the Phillies ahead for good in the sixth with his 22nd home run, which gave him 100 RBIs. He had to be coaxed out of the dugout to tip his hat as fans gave him a standing ovation.
Doug Glanville's sacrifice fly off reliever Steve Karsay gave the Phillies a 4-2 lead in the eighth. A throwing error by Sanchez allowed Jimmy Rollis to score Philadelphia's fifth run.
Maddux (17-9) gave up three runs and six hits in seven innings. He is 3-4 with a 4.88 ERA since Aug. 1.
Notes: The paid attendance was 27,910, but the crowd seemed much larger because many tickets were given out for free. Rolen has nine multiple homer games. He hadn't hit a homer off Maddux in 40 at-bats entering the game. Rolen has 100 RBIs for the second time in his career. Maddux hasn't walked a Phillies player in 108 at-bats this year. He's 25-13 lifetime against the Phillies. Braves infielder Ken Caminiti grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the seventh. He has eight hits in his last 54 at-bats. Person's nine wins since the All-Star break are tied with Montreal's Javier Vazquez and St. Louis' Matt Morris for most in the NL.
Tear this out and pin it up all week so you'll never miss a special!
Weekly Specials
ASTROS
$2 wells
CADILLAC RANCH
$1.50 Bud / Bud Lt pints
Coco Loco
$1 Anything
No cover for ladies
$3 Biggin's size Bud Light
$2.00 Mexican beers
All flavors of Pete's Wicked Ale 6 pk $4.99
$1 big beers & double wells, no cover
EMERSON BIGGINS HARBOUR LIGHTS
THURSDAY
$2.50 imports
$3 premium draft,
$3.50 frozen Margaritas
$.75 draws, $1.50 dom liters,
$2.25 almost anything,
$2.50 16oz. dom. bottles
$2.25 Dos Equis pints
$6.95 margarita pitchers
$2 Coronas, $.50 tacos
$3 premium bottles, $2.25 calls
drinks, $4 double calls
2 for 1 on most drinks
HIRD LIQUOR
Red Stripe 6 pk $5.99
$2 big beers
$.25 wings
THE OCTOBERFESTS ARE IN:
$5 pitchers Bud & Bud Lt
JACK FLANIGANS
JET LAG LOUNGE
OLD CHICAGO
$2.50 16oz. dom. bottles
SATURDAY
2 for 1 margaritas World Class Dance Party
$4 32oz Bud & Bud Lt,
$1 anything
$4.75 Biggin's size
margaritas on the rocks
$1.50 Miller High Life bottles,
$3.00 220z. Rockies
$2.50 pitchers, $2 wells,
$1 anything, retro night
FRIDAY
SUNDAY
$2 domestic bottles
$2 bloody marys/
screwdrivers
World Class Dance Party great specials
$1.50 u-call-it, DJ & dancing, 1/2 price burgers
$2.25 Rolling Rock and Captain Morgan drinks
$2.00 pints domestic and micros
$3.75 pitchers
$3.00 Coronas
$2.00 well drinks
$2.00 Boulevard pints
$2.00 double calls,
DJ Jerett
$2.00 domestic bottles
$.30 wings
Sam Adams Octoberfest
6pk $5.99
$2.99 big beers
Import night $2.00 import
and micro beers
$1.50 Bud / Lt bottles,
$2.00 180 & Bacardi
RAOUL'S VELVET ROOM SET EM UP JACK'S
$2.00 Rolling Rock longnecks
$1 Capt. Morgans, Retro Dance, $2.50 big beers
$2.00 pint draws of Bud & Bud Lt
2 for 1 margaritas
$1 Busch & Miller Hi Life cans, $1.50
wells, $2.75 doubles, live music
$2.00 Red Bull & Vodka Simplexity
$1.50 import drafts
Pete's Octoberfest
6 pk $4.99
$3.00 Biggin's size
Shiner Bock
$1.00 doms $1.50 micro draw
$1.75 premium draws
$3 Biggin's size Labatta draws
$2.00 Boulevards
WineSpecials!
6 pk $4.99
$3 Stoll drinks, 105.9
Lazer Dance Party
Ride the bus to all KU
home games
Home football games
$2.00 Boulevard draft pints
$2 Smirnoff Ice / Twisters
DJ Bobby Keys
$2.50 Jackaritas, $3.50 S.
Hurricanes, DJ/Dancing
Karaokel
10% off all cases of wine and liquor
$2.75 Long Island
Ice Tea, free pool
NASCAR party during
new.$2.16draws Rud/U
$5 pitchers, choose winning team = free dinner buffet
NASCAR party during race.$2 16oz draws Bud/L
$2.00 house wines, wells,
domestic beers
$2.50 16oz Bud & Bud Lt
$3.00 Martinis / Cosmopolitans
$2.50 20 oz. Miller Lt
$2 Margaritas & Coronas, 2 for1 burgers and $2.00
$1.50 25 oz. big beers domestic big beers
JET LAG LOUNGE
HIRD RETAIL LIQUOR
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