White Sox recall sheltering near Ground Zero after 11 September attacks
Retrospective accounts describe the team’s evacuation from New York, including a decision to transport nurses stranded in Manhattan to New Jersey.
The Chicago White Sox were in New York to play the New York Yankees on 11 September 2001 when routine travel gave way to a day of sheltering, uncertainty and evacuation.
In accounts reported by Yahoo Sports, former White Sox player Darrin Jackson recalled the team landing at Newark in the early hours and travelling by bus, with views of the Twin Towers and the Statue of Liberty. Team staff member Ed Cassen said he learned of the attacks from a phone call from his wife at about 8am.
The team was staying about a mile from Ground Zero and sheltered in place as the attacks unfolded and Manhattan shut down. Jackson recalled watching images of the planes striking the towers and recognising the scale of what had happened.
Cassen contacted team leadership to organise the team’s departure, saying his priority was to get the group out of New York. After nearly 12 hours working with authorities, buses were secured for the morning of 12 September.
The team also agreed to transport emergency workers, including nurses stranded in Manhattan, to New Jersey. The evacuation reflected the wider disruption to travel and professional sport caused by the attacks.
Jackson later said returning to baseball helped provide a measure of normality after the team’s experience in New York.
