ML All Games Suspended on Mournful Tuesday

In the aftermath of the worst terrors in New York and Washington, all sports games were suspended in the U.S.

The Major League Commissioner Allan H. Selig announced yesterday, ``Given the continuing national horror and the many significant challenges faced by our government, our cities, and our citizens, I believe it is appropriate to postpone all Major League Baseball games for Wednesday, September 12, 2001. I will continue to monitor the situation on a daily basis and make ongoing decisions accordingly.``

With the exception of work stoppages and inclement weather, this marked just the third time in the 125-year history of Major League Baseball that an entire day of regular season games was canceled. The last time it happened was June 6, 1944. That was D-Day, when Allied Forces invaded Normandy, France in World War II 57 years ago. The ML games were called off when President Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack on Aug. 2, 1923, and the preseason games were cancelled 2 days after former President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1945.

The emergent stoppage of the national sports, the professional baseball games, epitomized the seriousness of this terror affair. As the late president Roosevelt decided to join the World War II on Jan. 15, 1942, he said that ``the baseball should be continued.``

Arizona Diamondbacks Chairman Jerry Colangelo said, ``I don`t care if they`re all postponed.`` And Houston Astros General Manage Gerry Hunsicker said, ``Baseball games, quite frankly, are not real important.``

The 78-year-old Yankee Stadium, perhaps the building that most symbolizes American sports, was evacuated one and a half hours after the first terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center.

The police ringed the Yankees ballpark, located in 16 km from the World Trade Center. In this day, the Yankees was scheduled to face the Chicago White Sox, and Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens (19 wins and 1 loss) was expected to establish a new ML record.

Tuesday`s tragedy temporarily put on hold Pennant races in both leagues as well as San Francisco Giants Barry Bonds` pursuit of the home run record. Bonds who recorded 63 homers so far, and the San Francisco Giants were scheduled to begin a series with the Houston Astros at Enron Field on Tuesday. The ML office requested all players of 30 teams to stay at home, waiting for the decision of the ML office.

As well as the baseball, all sports such as the car racing, the college football, the Major League Soccer, and Women`s soccer, and the horse racing cancelled their schedules, and all sorts of sports events will not be held until the weekend. However, the National Football League (NFL) announced that ``Regarding Sunday`s games, we will make no decision today.`` The NFL had enforced to play when the former president John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and thus became the target of criticism.

Meanwhile, Korean players in the U.S. such as Park Chan-Ho (LA Dodgers), Seo Jae-Eung (New York Mets), and Kim Byung-Hyun (Arizona Diamondbacks) remained intact from this terror. And a bullpen coach of the Chicago White Sox Lee Man-Su arrived at New York in the early morning for the game with New York Yankees, but he is now safe.

Kim Sang-Soo ssoo@donga.com