"Firefighter Kenneth ("Kenny") Marino of the FDNY's Rescue 1 unit, last seen rushing against traffic in a stairwell of the Trade Center's South Tower, was among the scores of heroes still missing that day.
Less than 100 miles south of New York's devastated Lower Manhattan community, Reds director of public relations Rob Butcher was logging into his Internet e-mail at the Reds' hotel in Philadelphia. Major League Baseball had returned to the ballparks six days prior, and the Reds were awaiting the opening of a three-game series with the Phillies at Veterans Stadium.
As Butcher scanned his messages, he came across one from Marino's wife, Katrina. She had just spent yet another harrowing day in the makeshift shelters surrounding Ground Zero filling out paperwork and praying for miracles along with hundreds of other FDNY families.
Kenneth had always been one of Griffey's biggest fans -- they'd even traveled all the way to Seattle's Safeco Field when Griffey was a Mariner, just so Kenneth could present his hero with his own long-sleeved Rescue 1 T-shirt.
She'd joked on numerous occasions that there were more photos of Griffey in the Marino's Monroe, N.Y. home than there were of herself.
If Griffey could just hit a home run that night, Katrina wrote, Kenny would be smiling down from heaven. Butcher printed the e-mail and personally delivered it to Junior's locker in the visiting clubhouse at the Vet, where the Reds outfielder's eyes darted across the page.
"I'd love to, if it was that easy," Griffey told Butcher.
But hours later, Griffey did just that, belting a solo shot in the fourth inning off Philadelphia's David Coggin. Somewhere in heaven, Katrina said later, Kenny was smiling.
..."This is just part of the story. Very moving.
http://ufalocal94.org/news_stories/mlb/mlb_06_23_04.html
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