On the air, Vin Scully reflects 10 years after 9/11

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Here’s the treasure that is Vin Scully, on the air Sunday after a pregame 9/11 ceremony in San Francisco:

‘We had a lead, gray morning, slowly burning off to a brilliant sunrise, making you think of that beautiful day in New York 10 years ago, Sept. 11, 2001. Certainly a day in which God must have wept, wept over man’s inhumanity to man. A day of heroes and a day of horror.

‘And there are numbers we always talk about in baseball. We know of the total number of people who passed away that day. But I think of two particular numbers -- 405 and 343. Four-hundred and five were the total number of first responders who died that day trying to help others. And the 343, all of those brave firemen who as most of those people who did escape were going down the stairs, 343 firemen were going up the stairs on the way to meet their destiny.

‘Yes, it was a day to remember. We all take a promise now, we will never forget. But you know in retrospect, we’ve kind of forgotten Pearl Harbor. We’ve kind of forgotten D-Day and World War II. I guess it’s a tendency to try and push aside something that brings us so much pain.

‘But it should also bring some honor for as we watch rising from the ashes of New York, like the Phoenix itself, the high-rises that will once again be a testimony to the heart and soul of this great country.

‘I remember Ronald Reagan once said, ‘If we ever forgot that we were one nation under God, we will be one nation that goes under.’ And you might notice today, above all days, you will hear God’s name mentioned, and we hope, not in vain.

‘So that’s the scene here at AT&T Park. We will do as we did 10 years ago. We will try and turn the page, at least for a couple of hours and concentrate on a child’s game called baseball. But all the while, each and every one of us should carry a small ache in our heart for what happened. And please God, we will never forget what took place 10 years ago today. And with that, we’ll pause for this.’

The camera then panned to a scene outside the stadium that had a banner that read: ‘We will never forget 9/11.’

And here’s Scully in a video from 10 years ago, in the Dodgers’ first game after 9/11:

-- Steve Dilbeck