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'It was hard to watch' White Sox coach witnesses World Trade Center collapse
Updated: Wednesday September 12, 2001 9:39 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Art Kusnyer looked down Fifth Avenue and stared at the cloud of smoke. Then, he saw a sight that might haunt him the rest of his life. "All of a sudden, the whole tower just collapsed," the Chicago White Sox bullpen coach said Tuesday. "All those poor people. It was hard to watch." The White Sox arrived at their midtown hotel around 2 a.m. EDT Tuesday, in town to play a three-game series against the New York Yankees. By morning, many of them were awakened by worried phone calls from family and friends, or by terrible pictures of the World Trade Center towers crumbling. "It was like a horror movie," Harold Baines said. "I came downstairs and people were running. I walked to Lexington Avenue and I could see the smoke. It was unbelievable." Infielder Jose Valentin tried -- without much luck -- to get a phone line to call loved ones. "What's scary is you're in the middle of it and there's nowhere to go," he said. "I just want to get out of here." Manager Jerry Manuel hoped to do just that. "We're leaving," he said Tuesday night. Manuel said the White Sox planned to take a bus Wednesday morning to Cleveland. All of Tuesday's games in the majors were postponed. The Yankees said their game Wednesday night also was postponed, but did not know the status of Thursday night's series finale. Shortly after the tower attacks, Manuel worked to find out whether any of his players, staff or families had been hurt. White Sox co-owner Jerry Reinsdorf confirmed that all were safe. Teams visiting New York late in the season -- especially ones loaded with young September callups -- often have several players take families on sightseeing trips. Mike Gellinger, a computer scouting analyst for the White Sox, looked out his hotel room and could see rubble rising in the distance, about 3 1/2 miles south. Jose Canseco said he hadn't left his hotel room. "They told us to stay around here," the slugger said. "I'm just waiting for more information." Tuesday's postponement was fine with Valentin. "I wouldn't want to go up to Yankee Stadium now," Valentin said. Kusnyer, 55, has always enjoyed his visits to New York, and had planned to take a walk around town Tuesday morning. His wife called early to tell him that a plane had hit one of the towers. "I was going out to get coffee and walked out on 42nd Street. I could see the smoke, and both towers were still up," he said. "I went another block or two, and people were standing in the street, looking down there. And then you just heard, 'Oh, my goodness!' and I saw the first tower go down." Kusnyer could barely stand to look any longer. He headed back to the hotel to call his wife to tell her he was OK. "This is one of the worst things in the world," he said. "I know I'll remember it the rest of my life."
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