NEW YORK -- Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Joe Torre were among the members of the 2001 New York Yankees on hand Friday at Yankee Stadium for a pregame ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
The ceremony, held before the Yankees hosted the New York Mets to open a three-game series, honored 9/11 victims and concluded with first pitches from Brielle Saracini and Sean Maguire, a married couple whose fathers died on Sept. 11, 2001.
Victor Saracini was the captain on United Flight 175, which struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Patrick Maguire was working on the 84th floor of the tower that morning. Brielle Saracini and Sean Maguire were both 10 when their fathers died.
Three days after the tragedy, Saracini wrote a letter to Jeter, telling him that her father would want her to one day realize her dream of meeting him. Jeter responded by inviting Saracini and her family to Yankee Stadium for a game, beginning a friendship that continues 25 years later.
"The odds were stacked against me that day," Saracini said during a news conference Friday alongside Jeter. "But I remember just taking a minute and just having normal conversations and just feeling like a kid."
Two years after the tragedy, Saracini and Maguire met at Camp Better Days, which was established to provide support for children who lost a parent on 9/11. They were married on Sept. 9, 2017.
"For us, we live our lives every day," Saracini said. "It's not just remembered on this day. It's every day we miss our fathers. And every day, it's just another day. And this is the day that it's brought up the most. But this year, heading into 25 years, I guess I'm just looking back from a more adult perspective, and that's just shaken me a little bit.
"Having the Yankees continuously show kindness, it feels like I'm in the right place today. I never know what I want to do on each anniversary. I never know the proper way to honor my father. This feels really special. I know he'd be so proud of me."
Saracini said Jeter, her favorite player growing up, has helped navigate the grief. The two have remained in touch over the years. She detailed going through a cancer diagnosis with support from Jeter, who sent her a personal voicemail wishing her well and imploring her to stay positive. She said she played the voicemail in the hospital over and over, uplifted by having someone like Jeter in her corner.
"It's more than just they did something nice a couple days after because they got a letter and just said, 'What do we do?'" Saracini said. "It's a lifelong thing to now, still, 25 years later. The kindness does not stop, and I'm taken aback about it consistently through the last 25 years."
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said taking the field Friday against the Mets was a "huge honor." A player on the Cincinnati Reds in 2001, he recalled the role baseball -- and sports across the board -- played in providing a sense of normalcy once the games resumed. The Yankees and Mets were at the forefront, with the Yankees delivering memorable moments miles from Ground Zero into November.
A quarter century later, Saracini and Jeter were together again.
"As an athlete, it was the first time that I said to myself, 'Why am I even playing?'" said Jeter, who earned the nickname "Mr. November" for his heroics against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series that fall, which the Yankees lost in seven games. "Because obviously the games got canceled. And my initial thought was, we're not going to come back and play. What does baseball mean? And then you had a chance to meet a lot of family members who lost loved ones and Brielle's right at the top of the list because I got the chance to know her.
"And then you realize, from the stories that they've shared -- she said it in her letter. The memories that they have at Yankee Stadium, her and her dad, going to games, being a Yankee fan. And then that's when you realize that our job was to at least try to give people something to cheer for a few hours a day."