\n\tSeptember 11, 2001, produced countless stories of heroism, sacrifice, and miraculous escapes. Twenty-five years later, those stories remain just as powerful. Some involved firefighters, police officers, first responders, airline passengers, and ordinary people who made extraordinary choices. Others were far less obvious, and involved those sliding-doors moments where everything might have been vastly changed by one small thing going differently. One involved a future Minnesota Twins fan favorite, a minor-league playoff series, and a couple of home runs.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tMichael Cuddyer<\/a> wasn\u2019t trying to save a life when he stepped into the batter\u2019s box for the New Britain Rock Cats. He was just trying to help his team win a baseball game. But 25 years later, it\u2019s impossible to look at those home runs without realizing just how much they meant.\n<\/p>\n \tA Ticket Home<\/p>\n \n\tIn 2001, Cuddyer was a 22-year-old prospect in the Twins organization. He had already established himself as one of the better power hitters in the system, launching 30 home runs for New Britain during the regular season.\n<\/p>\n \n\tBrad Thomas<\/a> was his teammate. The left-handed reliever had reached Double-A alongside Cuddyer, and the two had become close friends and roommates. Thomas was also preparing to make a long trip home to Australia once the season ended. That meant booking a flight. Thomas and his fianc\u00e9e, Kylie, had tickets on American Airlines Flight 11, scheduled to leave Boston\u2019s Logan Airport on September 11 and eventually take them back to Australia.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThere was nothing unusual about that decision. Minor-league players routinely made travel arrangements before their seasons were officially finished, knowing they could be eliminated from the playoffs at any time. When the season was over, players wanted to get home.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tNew Britain was facing the Norwich Navigators, the Yankees\u2019 Double-A affiliate, in the Eastern League playoffs. The series was supposed to end on September 10, one way or another. If New Britain lost, Thomas and Kylie would head to Boston. Then, Cuddyer stepped to the plate.\n<\/p>\n \tFate in Cuddyer\u2019s Hands\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tNew Britain trailed in the opening game of the series when Cuddyer came up in the bottom of the ninth inning. The count reached 3-2, before Cuddyer hit a walk-off home run. The Rock Cats won, and the series continued. For Thomas, it meant the flight home wasn\u2019t necessary yet.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThere was still more baseball to play. Cuddyer delivered again in the clinching Game 4, hitting a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning. New Britain won the series and advanced to the Eastern League championship. The team had earned the right to keep playing. Thomas no longer needed those plane tickets. And then September 11 arrived.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMichael pretty much saved our lives single-handedly by knocking in the winning runs in the last of the playoff games that took us to the next round,\u201d Thomas later said<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe next morning, the players gathered at New Britain Stadium as the reality of what had happened began to sink in. American Airlines Flight 11 had been hijacked after departing Boston. At 8:46 a.m., it crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Everyone aboard the plane died. Thomas was supposed to be on it.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThere was no way Cuddyer could have known what his home run would ultimately mean. He wasn\u2019t thinking about flights. He wasn\u2019t thinking about the future. He was trying to win a baseball game. Yet, those two home runs altered the course of Thomas\u2019 life.\n<\/p>\n