SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa., Aug. 19 — In 1991, Michael Cammarata sprinted into right field at the Little League World Series. Ten years later, Cammarata rushed into the World Trade Center, as a firefighter responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
Michael Cammarata was last seen rushing into a World Trade Center hotel to evacuate guests and staff.
Cammarata was 22 when he died in the rescue attempt. To honor him, and others who died that day, Little League International on Friday affixed the No. 11, Cammarata’s old jersey number, to the right-field fence at Lamade Stadium.
“Michael Cammarata’s willingness to sacrifice his own safety for the safety of others made him the very embodiment of all three words in the Little League motto: character, courage and loyalty,” Stephen Keener, the Little League president, said in a statement.
The No. 11, printed in white with a circle around it, is the only emblem on the outfield wall other than Little League logos.
“In the years to come, people will ask, ‘What is the No. 11 in right field for?’ We will be able to tell them the story of a Little Leaguer who became a true hero for all of us,” Keener said.
Cammarata played for South Shore, the last Staten Island team to make the Little League World Series before the Mid-Island team made it this year. In 2002, Cammarata was enshrined in the Hall of Excellence at the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum.
Cammarata was a member of Ladder Company 11 on East Second Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He was in the ninth week of a 14-week training program when he died. He was last seen rushing into the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel to evacuate guests and staff.
Cammarata, who lived with his parents in Huguenot, Staten Island, was nicknamed the Face by his fellow firefighters for his movie-star looks. He achieved a perfect score on the Fire Department’s written exam and physical.
