NEW YORK (REUTERS) — Baseball’s fields of dreams were turned into stadiums of remembrance Wednesday as Major League teams across the United States paid tribute to the heroes and victims of Sept. 11.

Nowhere did those tributes resonate louder than at Yankee Stadium, where the American League East-leading Yankees capped off a gut-wrenching day of recollection across New York City with a stirring 45-minute pre-game ceremony that touched all the emotional bases.

Numbed Americans first expressed their defiance to those who would attack their country by returning to the nation’s ballparks, which had been shut down for six days following the hijacked aircraft attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

And on the anniversary of those attacks, the Yankee faithful filed into the “House that Ruth built” in an outpouring of flag-waving patriotism.

“It felt important to distract, give people a breather,” said Yankee manager Joe Torre about last year’s resumption of play, before the start of the game against the Baltimore Orioles. “We realized that baseball is important; it’s something people can count on.”

“Last year was so tense, we felt so violated. You think about it every day,” said Torre.

“You can’t say it’s something you get used to, but it happened and we’re different now. … But we can’t be afraid to do the things we do. If we do, we give in.”

In a stiff late-summer breeze, an emotional evening began with the unfurling of a tattered American flag with 12 stars missing, recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center — the same flag that flew over Yankee Stadium a year ago for Game 3 of the World Series.

Followed the singing of “God Bless America” by Irish tenor Ronan Tynan, the Yankees, represented by owner George Steinbrenner, planted a tree and dedicated a plaque in left field’s famed Monument Park to the heroes and victims of the attacks.

In an evening rife with symbolism, Challenger, a bald eagle and the symbol of American freedom, was brought to the pitcher’s mound, another giant American flag was unfurled across the outfield, and four F-18 Hornets fighter jets roared over the stadium to thunderous applause and chants of “U.S.A., U.S.A.”

Every fan entering Yankee stadium, like those in the 15 other Major League ballparks across the country where games were played on Wednesday, received a commemorative white T-shirt, which they were being urged to wear when the game is stopped at exactly 9:11 p.m. for a moment of silence.

Clutching their T-shirts, with the words, “We Shall Not Forget” written across them, were Mike DeVitto and friend Wendy Zuke, who had been waiting exactly a year for this game.

“We had tickets for the Sept. 11 game last year,” said DeVitto. “We bought tickets at the beginning of the season and grabbed these right away because this was the most important game of the year for us.”

Some may have questioned the appropriateness of playing games on such a somber occasion, but not Torre.

“We’re never going to forget, but we have to continue living our lives and do what we do,” said Torre.