If you’re being honest, 15 years later, more people are concerned about this being the first full slate of games for the NFL season, the MLB pennant races, and really just living their day-to-day lives. In many ways, this is a triumph. The attacks of 9/11 were partially an attack on our very way of life. 

There is a certain beauty in becoming less and less concerned with what transpired in 9/11. 

Whether we like to admit it or not, September 11th will sooner or later go the way of December 7th. History buffs will acknowledge the date. The very few who were truly affected will mourn the day. However, as a nation we will have completely moved on. Still, we’re not at that point when it comes to 9/11. 

As an aside, in 1994, I had a aunt on my mother’s side who became a widow in her mid 30s as her husband died of cancer. Not knowing anyone who was a widow in her family, she reached out to my grandmother on my father’s side. During the conversation, my grandmother said, “It never stops hurting.”  My grandfather had died in 1986.

For many, they have not stopped hurting in these 15 years. Today is an open wound for them. On a completely different level, as a nation, it is a time for mourning, and it’s reminder about just how important all of our rights and freedoms are. 

And so, we mourn and we honor the lives lost as a result of the 9/11 attacks. It is part of the promise everyone made to one another on 9/11 to “never forget.”

Mourners and some people not affected will gather at Ground Zero, and they will read the names of those that died that day. There will be moments of silence for when each plane flew into the towers and for when each tower fell. Baseball and football stadiums will unfurl their giant American flags, and they will have ceremonies to honor the fallen. 

However, the Mets won’t wear the first responder caps during the game.  It’s not because no one thought to ask or thought to repeat the task. It’s because MLB doesn’t allow it. They don’t want people to see the caps to be seen on TV during the game. This isn’t MLB trying to go to normalcy. No, it’s about marketing. 

It’s something Todd Zeile, who’s idea it was to wear the hats in the first place, wouldn’t allow 15 years ago, to happen. As the Mets manager and leader, Bobby Valentine got on board, and he not only allowed his team to wear the caps, he encouraged it. It went so far as Mike Piazza getting an NYPD catcher’s helmet so he too could wear a first responder’s cap on the field. 

Seeing those players take the field in those caps was as important as Piazza’s home run, perhaps more so. It’s why people, and especially Mets fans, put an emotional attachment to Piazza’s jersey and Mets players wearing the first responders hats during the game.

Wearing those caps honors those who died due to the 9/11 attacks. It is a patriotic act. It is a simple gesture that means so much to so many people. It is a sign that neither the Mets nor MLB forgot. 

Instead, the Mets won’t be allowed to wear them in a game. MLB will collect the hats after batting practice to make sure it won’t happen like they did to David Wright years ago. MLB puts marketing ahead of patriotism. 

MLB forgot.