The Major League : Bobby Parnell

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Male Voice: I was always at the fire department. Always with my dad going to fire calls and just being around the brotherhood. It's something that if I weren't playing that's where I would be.

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Jenny Pachucki: From the 9/11 Memorial & Museum this is Our City. Our Story. A series where New Yorkers talk about their city. What it means to be a New Yorker and how September 11th changed that. I'm Jenny Pachucki.

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00:00:27 Bobby Parnell: I'm Bobby Parnell. I play with the . A pitcher. A relief pitcher and, I've been here since 2008.

Jenny Pachucki: As soon as Bobby Parnell starts to speak it is clear that he is not from New York City. However, as a closing pitcher for the New York Mets who has played for the team since 2008 he's an adopted New Yorker. And to

the many New Yorkers who love that team he is a representative of the city.

00:00:52 I met Parnell in the summer of 2015, a few months before the team would battle it out in the World Series with the . The team was hot. They were starting to win some games, and everyone in the city seemed to be talking about them. Parnell moved to New York to play baseball for the Mets.

00:01:07 He's originally from Salisbury, North Carolina. A pretty small town that couldn't be more different from New York City. We talked about his transition, and the things that he loves about New York City. Do you remember your first visit to New York?

Bobby Parnell: I do. Very hectic. I'm from a very small town in North Carolina so not a lot of people would come up here, and in the few years that I've been here learned to love it.

Jenny Pachucki: What do you like best about New York?

00:01:31 Bobby Parnell: The people. I'm a very big people- watcher, and I live in the city now, and just walk outside, and just watch the people. They go about their business, and just go, and go, and go, and go,

and the city never sleeps. It's crazy and most importantly, playing baseball.

Jenny Pachucki: Do you have a favorite place or a favorite restaurant? Everybody has got their, "This is the best pizza. This is the best bagel."

00:01:55 Bobby Parnell: Yeah, I'm staying in the Upper East Side, and there's a little Pizza Park place that we go to. I probably eat there way more than I should, but the people in there are great.

Jenny Pachucki: Parnell doesn't have a direct connection to 9/11. He wasn't living here at the time, but he does feel a strong connection to the first responder community because he comes from a long line of firefighters.

00:02:18 Bobby Parnell: Dad's father was in Oakhurst, New Jersey. My dad is actually, the fire chief in Salisbury, North Carolina, and my brother has been a firefighter for about a year now in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jenny Pachucki: So do you spend any time or did you when you were younger around the firehouse?

00:02:32 Bobby Parnell: That was my second home. Probably even more than a baseball field. I was always at the fire department. Always with my dad going to fire calls

and just being around the brotherhood. It's something that if I weren't playing baseball that's where I would be so it's very dear to the heart.

Jenny Pachucki: Do you feel like that part of your background and your life connects you to the 9/11 community a little bit more strongly?

00:02:57 Bobby Parnell: Yeah, 100 percent. I was sitting there watching the attacks in high school, and I knew firefighters who were there. I knew my dad was a firefighter, and the first thing I thought was, "Is he going to go help? What are we doing? Let's help." That's just something with the territory.

00:03:14 These firefighters, they put their lives on the line every day, day in and day out, and they were climbing up the stairs as people were climbing down them. And they were going up there to people, and put out fires, and help the way they could, and 343 firefighters were lost in that, and that's something that people will never forget.

Jenny Pachucki: Parnell may not have been in New York on 9/11, but he remembers what it was like to be here for the 10-year anniversary. That night, September 11th, 2011 the Mets had a home game against the . I asked him if he remembered that game.

00:03:45 Bobby Parnell: The biggest thing I remember is the bagpipes. The bagpipes on the field, and as a firefighter background I'm sure everybody -- that's something that people remember is the bagpipes and what it means to the community. I remember that as clear as day. That's something that was very touching.

00:04:07 I remember bits and pieces of the game, but, like I said, that's the biggest thing. I remember the firefighters being there. I remember the first responders being there, but the bagpipes really stood out for me.

Jenny Pachucki: In his time in the city Parnell has witnessed life return to Lower Manhattan. When I met with him he had just finished a tour of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, and I asked him his thoughts about how the site has evolved.

00:04:27 Bobby Parnell: I came in '09. It was the first time I came, and I remember the blue fences being up around the whole perimeter, and watching the construction. So I've seen it not on a day to day like most New Yorkers probably have basis, but I've seen it grow up a little bit.

00:04:43 Year to year grow up, and like I said, they've done an amazing job with the whole museum. So much thought has gone in to this. In to remembering 9/11 and to representing what New York, what America has triumphed from. It's pretty unbelievable.

Jenny Pachucki: When you're from a small town like Parnell is the times are places that New Yorkers come together really stand out. We ended our conversation discussing the unique ways that the New York community comes together.

00:05:12 Bobby Parnell: To kind of bring it back to the museum and to tie it in with baseball the museum is a story of a tragedy, but what it did was it brought America together. It brought everybody in New York together.

00:05:24 And with baseball, we've gone through some tough times the last few years and now, we're starting to win some ball games, and the fan base is coming out big time. It's kind of on a very smaller scale than what the museum is doing, but it puts a spark in to the community. It's awesome.

00:05:43 Jenny Pachucki: Parnell was injured not too long after this interview, and he was not able to take the field with the rest of his team as they fought unsuccessfully,

it turned out, for their third championship title. As a New York Met, Parnell knows that this is a city that finds ways to come together both in times of tragedy and triumph.

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Jenny Pachucki: From the 9/11 Memorial & Museum this is Our City. Our Story. I'm Jenny Pachucki, series host, writer, and producer. With executive producers Michael Frazier and Carl Cricco.

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