Donald Spampinato Jr.

I am 39 years old, the same age that Donald Spampinato Jr. was when he died in the 9/11 attacks. Five years ago I worked on Long Island and was on my way to work when the attacks occurred. I watched the second jet hit from the Wantagh Parkway and I watched the towers fall from my office in Jericho. All the time I thought about all of the parents in those towers, like Donald, who were thinking of their loved ones at home. Now that I work in lower Manhattan and my office overlooks Ground Zero, I still cannot comprehend the helplessness the victims had to have felt when thinking of those loved ones as the reality of the moment struck home.

This weekend, as all of us prepare for the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I found myself not far from where Donald lived with his wife and their three sons. I was umpiring a little league double header for 9 year olds. The same age that Donald’s son David is now. As I looked for information about Donald I learned that while he worked in Manhattan he still made sure that he was home to coach his sons in baseball. I realized that if they still played I might encounter them one day. I know that although there father is no longer able to coach them he is still watching them and still coaching them in there hearts.

Donald may not be able to teach them how to stand at the plate anymore, but one of their coaches will take the time to do so. He may not be able to tell them how to choose the pitches to swing at or how to time their swings, but perhaps an uncle of a family friend will do so. He may not be able to remind them when they don’t make a play or get a hit that they are just little boys playing a little boys game and that it is all for fun, but I am sure that there mom or their coach will speak words of encouragement.

And as little boys do when they do not make a play or get a hit, they will get upset and perhaps they will cry. My promise to Donald, a man whom I have never met and who is greatly missed by his loved ones and especially his boys, is if I am the umpire for his sons when this happens I will take a moment to let them know that they are just little boys playing a little boys game and that tomorrow is another day and everything will all be alright.