A few weeks ago, after the New York Yankees were humiliated 22-0 by the Cleveland Indians, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner ordered inspirational messages posted around Yankee Stadium and released a statement comparing the team's resiliency to that of New Yorkers as the city recovered from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Perhaps Steinbrenner had been thinking about the new HBO film, "Nine Innings From Ground Zero," which makes the same connection. The co-production between HBO and Major League Baseball has a whiff of Steinbrennerish self-seriousness about it, but it's nonetheless a stirring and well-made record of how baseball, particularly the Yankees' bittersweet journey to the 2001 World Series, helped provide the city solace in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
A litany of fans, journalists and well-known participants such as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Yankees manager Joe Torre, former Mets manager Bobby Valentine and Yankee players Scott Brosius and Paul O'Neil attest to how the games offered a respite from the daily drama that was playing out nine miles from the Bronx in lower Manhattan.
The second half of the film is a vibrant account of the seven-game World Series in which the Yankees faced the Arizona Diamondbacks, one of the best Series in recent years. The games' intensity is underscored by more interviews, as fans and participants recall their wild swings of emotion. The on-field heroics of Derek Jeter and company are juxtaposed -- in a tasteful way, thankfully -- with the recovery efforts at ground zero.
