It would have been a memorable Fall Classic during the best of times, but the sport's greatest showcase took on a somber tone as the rubble of the Twin Towers smoldered just a few miles from Yankee Stadium. Though nothing could heal the deep wounds suffered by the terror attacks of September 11, our National Pastime offered a stunned nation some small degree of solace as it struggled to come to grips with the horror and grief. As snipers kept guard from the roofs of Yankee Stadium and Bank One Ballpark, the Yankees and Diamondbacks produced one of the most thrilling seven-game series in the history of American sport.

And after the Yankees clawed back from a two-games-to-none hole to take a three to two lead with late home run heroics on consecutive nights, it was the D-backs that struck the final blow, solving the unsolvable riddle of Mariano Rivera to walk off with the World Championship in the Series' last frame.