Kiners Korner Chronicles, No. 6: Piazza's Homer Lifts a City

Ten days after September 11, a swing at Shea gives New York a reason to cheer — Shea Stadium, September 21, 2001

Welcome to the Kiners Korner Chronicles.

This site is dedicated to Ralph Kiner and the legacy of the greatest sports postgame show ever, Kiner's Korner.

While researching our book, Down on the Korner, my co-author Howie Karpin and I tracked down as many surviving episodes of Kiner's Korner as we could find. Now, you can watch those treasured broadcasts right here on this site and relive the conversations, the characters, and the unforgettable moments that made Ralph's show so special.

But our search also taught us something heartbreaking: for every conversation we recovered, dozens more were lost — taped over, thrown out, or gone forever.

So we're doing the next best thing. Through the power of AI and deep research into the old games, we hope to recreate a little bit of that magic. The game recaps are real, built from the box score. The interviews that follow are our best imagining of the conversations that were lost — what Ralph would have asked, and what his guest might have answered.

The Game

FLUSHING, N.Y. — Ten days after the September 11 attacks, baseball came back to New York. Shea Stadium, whose parking lots had served as a staging area for rescue workers, hosted the city's first ballgame since the tragedy, and before the first pitch the rival Mets and Braves lined up to shake hands and embrace on the field. Diana Ross sang "God Bless America," Marc Anthony sang the national anthem, NYPD bagpipers played "Amazing Grace," and the Mets took the field wearing the caps of the city's first responders — NYPD, FDNY, and the other agencies who had run toward the towers. The Mets donated their day's pay, roughly $500,000, to a fund for the families of fallen firefighters and police officers. During the seventh-inning stretch, Liza Minnelli sang "New York, New York" while first responders formed a makeshift kick line.

The ballgame itself was worthy of the night. Bruce Chen, the Mets' starter, allowed one run in seven innings — and it was unearned. In the fourth, Chipper Jones singled, and when Ken Caminiti doubled to right, Jones came home as Piazza couldn't handle Matt Lawton's throw; the error was charged to Piazza himself. The Mets tied it in the bottom half: Piazza doubled for the second time on the night, Robin Ventura singled him to third, and Tsuyoshi Shinjo's sacrifice fly brought him home. Jason Marquis, the Staten Island native starting for Atlanta, matched Chen nearly pitch for pitch: one run in six innings.

It stayed 1-1 into the eighth. John Franco walked Julio Franco with two out, Cory Aldridge pinch-ran, Chipper Jones singled him to second, and Armando Benítez came on — only to watch Brian Jordan rip his first pitch into the left-center gap. Aldridge scored, and when Benítez walked Dave Martinez, the bases were loaded. Andruw Jones flied to center, and the Braves settled for one. Atlanta led 2-1, and 41,235 people braced for a quiet ending.

Instead they got the loudest moment in Shea Stadium history. Steve Karsay — a Queens native, pitching a few miles from where he grew up — got Matt Lawton on a groundout, then fought Edgardo Alfonzo through a nine-pitch, full-count walk. Desi Relaford pinch-ran. Piazza took the first pitch for a strike. The second pitch — a fastball — he drove to deep center field. Gone. A two-run home run, his 34th of the season and his third extra-base hit of the night, and the Mets led 3-2. "U-S-A" chants rolled down from the stands as he circled the bases, and the crowd called him back out for a curtain call. Benítez finished it in the ninth — a leadoff single by Javy López, a strikeout of B.J. Surhoff, and a game-ending double play off the bat of Keith Lockhart — and took the win himself. Final score: Mets 3, Braves 2, in three hours and seven minutes. The win pulled the Mets within four and a half games of first-place Atlanta — a team that had trailed by thirteen and a half on August 15.

Ralph's Guest

The Mets' catcher and cleanup hitter — three extra-base hits on the night, the man who scored the tying run and then hit the home run that, for one evening, let a grieving city exhale.

The Interview (imagined)

What follows is a dramatic recreation. The game was real. The conversation is our imagining of the Kiner's Korner segment that likely aired that night — the tapes of those early shows were erased long ago.

Ralph: Mike, before we talk about baseball — this was the first ballgame played in New York since September 11th. The two teams shook hands and embraced before the game. The Mets wore the caps of the police and firefighters. What was this night like to be a part of?

Piazza: Ralph, it was bigger than baseball, and we all knew it. Shea had been a staging area for the rescue workers all week. To walk out there and see those caps on our guys, and the Braves standing with us — for about ten minutes, they weren't the enemy at all. Bobby Cox said that himself. We just wanted to give people a few hours where they could feel normal again.

Ralph: You nearly supplied the whole offense yourself — three extra-base hits. A double in the first, a double in the fourth, and you scored the tying run on Tsuyoshi Shinjo's sacrifice fly. But the fourth inning also had your error — Chipper Jones scored when you couldn't handle Matt Lawton's throw on Ken Caminiti's double. The only run off Bruce Chen, and it was unearned. Did that sit with you?

Piazza: It did. Bruce pitched his heart out — seven innings, and the one run they get is on me. A catcher takes that personally. I told myself if I got a chance to get it back, I had to take it.

Ralph: The chance came in the eighth, but first the Braves took the lead. John Franco walks Julio Franco, Cory Aldridge runs for him, Chipper singles, and Brian Jordan doubles off Armando Benítez on the first pitch. Two to one, bases loaded after the walk to Dave Martinez — and Andruw Jones flies out to end it. From behind the plate, how thin was the ice in that inning?

Piazza: Very thin. Armando came in cold against Jordan and Jordan jumped on the first thing he saw. But Armando kept it right there — one run. In a one-run game at Shea, with our crowd, we liked our chances.

Ralph: Bottom of the eighth. Steve Karsay — a Queens kid, pitching in his home borough. He gets Lawton, then Edgardo Alfonzo works him for nine pitches and a full-count walk. Desi Relaford comes in to run. Now it's you, one out, Relaford at first. Walk me through the at-bat.

Piazza: Karsay's got a great fastball, and he got ahead of me — I took the first pitch for a strike. Oh and one. I was just trying to stay short, put the ball in play hard, give Desi a chance to move. He threw the fastball and I got the barrel to it. I knew when it left the bat.

Ralph: Deep center field. Your thirty-fourth home run of the year. Three to two, Mets. And as you rounded the bases, forty-one thousand people started chanting "U-S-A," and then they called you back out of the dugout for a curtain call. Mike, I've been around this game a long time. I don't know that I've ever heard a sound like that.

Piazza: Neither have I, Ralph. That chant wasn't really for me. It was for the city. People needed something to cheer about — just one night where the cheering was for the home team and for each other. If my swing gave them that, then it's the most important home run I'll ever hit. The numbers on it don't matter.

Ralph: Benítez closed it in the ninth — Javy López singles, Mark DeRosa runs, Surhoff strikes out, and Keith Lockhart grounds into the double play to end it. Armando gets the win. And this club, thirteen and a half games out on August 15th, is now four and a half back of the Braves. Did this night change what this team believes?

Piazza: We've believed all along, even when nobody else did. But tonight was about more than the standings. The club donated our day's pay to the families of the firefighters and police officers we lost. That's the part I'll remember. The home run is second.

Ralph: Liza Minnelli sang "New York, New York" in the seventh-inning stretch, with the first responders doing a kick line. Only in New York, Mike.

Piazza: Only in New York, Ralph. And New York showed up tonight — all of it.

Ralph: Mike Piazza — two doubles, a home run, and a night this city will never forget. Thank you.

Piazza: Thank you, Ralph.

Recreation of the lost Kiner's Korner interview — not an authentic broadcast still. Box score: Retrosheet via Baseball-Reference. Game account: SABR Games Project. The audio companion to this article — the Flag of Victory Polka, the disclaimer, and the full imagined interview — is available with this post.