Twenty years later, Bentley wore Brian's name on a baseball hat as he headed to Citi Field on Saturday to watch his New York Mets take on their crosstown rival New York Yankees following a ceremony marking the occasion.

"He was just a very nice guy," said Bentley, 62. "This is kind of therapeutic for me."

With flags around the stadium flying at half-staff, members of the city's first responder agencies, as well as former Mets players who contributed to the relief efforts, encircled the field before the game. Bobby Valentine and Joe Torre, who managed the Mets and Yankees respectively in 2001, delivered the ceremonial first pitch.

Baseball offered a small measure of solace to a grieving city in 2001. On Sept. 21 that year, the Mets took on the Atlanta Braves at their old home field, Shea Stadium, for the city's first major sporting event since the attacks, with President George W. Bush throwing out the first pitch.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Mike Piazza, the Mets' star catcher, slammed a dramatic home run to propel New York to a win and give the crowd a moment of joy after days of devastation and sorrow.

"That was something," said John Tully, 56, a retired New York City police officer who attended Saturday's game wearing a shirt with the names of two officers who died on Sept. 11, including a friend, Ramon Suarez. "Sports has a way of doing that."

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