May 1, 2011: Mets, Phillies play past midnight as world learns of Osama bin Laden’s death

On occasion, broadcasters have announced breaking news during live game telecasts. During Monday Night Football on December 8, 1980, ABC’s Howard Cosell announced an “unspeakable tragedy”: the shooting death of musician John Lennon. During the NBA Finals on June 17, 1994, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw showed viewers live footage of football legend O. J. Simpson evading police.1

On the night of May 1, 2011, the first-place Philadelphia Phillies (18-8) were hosting the fifth-place New York Mets (11-16), who had lost three straight games after winning six straight. TV viewers watched as part of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, at 8 P.M. Eastern time. A sellout crowd of 45,713 arrived to see this National League East Division faceoff, the night’s only major league baseball game, at Citizens Bank Park.

And when the game started, nobody at the ballpark knew that the 10-year manhunt for Osama bin Laden was over. A US military raid hours earlier in Pakistan had killed the founder of al-Qaeda, whose attacks on September 11, 2001, had hit the Mets’ home city of New York, the Phillies’ home state of Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Fans in Philadelphia saw a pitcher’s duel. Phillies left-hander Cliff Lee (2-2, 4.18 ERA) overcame a first-inning bases-loaded jam to keep the Mets scoreless through four. New York righty Chris Young (1-0, 2.65 ERA), in his second start since returning from the 15-day disabled list with tendonitis in his throwing arm, held his opponents to two hits.

It took only two hits for the Mets to break the tie in the fifth. A two-out single off the left-field wall by David Wright brought up Carlos Beltrán, only six weeks from his 1,100th career run batted in. A double through the right-center-field gap got Beltrán closer to his milestone, scoring Wright to give New York a 1-0 lead. A missed cutoff throw, ruled an error on Philadelphia second baseman Pete Orr, sent Beltrán to third.

Lee avoided further damage. He got Jason Bay to fly out, ending the fifth inning. He completed the sixth on four at-bats. In the seventh he allowed a single to José Reyes, who stole second base and reached third on a groundout, but an inning-ending flyout by Beltrán kept the score 1-0.

Philadelphia’s offense struggled to respond. By the time Jimmy Rollins struck out to start the seventh, Young had retired 10 straight Phillies. After Young walked Ryan Howard and hit Ben Francisco, Raúl Ibañez struck out to bring his slump to 0-for-33. And after a walk to Orr loaded the bases, third-base umpire Lance Barksdale declared that a checked swing by Brian Schneider was strike three.2 Phillies manager Charlie Manuel rushed out to argue Barksdale’s call and was ejected.3

The Phillies got another opportunity in the eighth. With John Mayberry Jr. pinch-hitting for Philadelphia reliever Antonio Bastardo, Mets righty Jason Isringhausen issued a walk. Shane Victorino bunted to advance Mayberry. Rollins walked. The tying run was in scoring position for lefty hitter Howard, whose 27 RBIs led the majors.

The Mets’ coaching staff called the bullpen, to summon southpaw Tim Byrdak.

At around that time, 10:48 P.M., a former Mets skipper checked his phone. ESPN color analyst Bobby Valentine – who had managed the first post-9/11 baseball game in New York – nudged play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman. He showed his broadcast partner a text message with a report circulating: bin Laden was dead.4

Network personnel agreed that such news, if corroborated, should at least yield a mention. “We were cautious,” ESPN vice president Mike McQuade later said. “But we weren’t going to avoid the story either.”5

For the moment, the attention stayed on the field, where Howard singled to left. Mayberry scored from second base. Rollins took third. The Phillies had their first hit since the fourth inning – and their first run all night – to even the game.

The Phillies’ scoring stopped there. Mets closer Francisco Rodríguez, who hadn’t allowed an earned run since April 14, relieved Byrdak in a rare non-save situation. A wild pitch to Ben Francisco, which sent Howard to second base, wasn’t wild enough to bring Rollins home. After Francisco walked, an inning-ending forceout made Ibañez 0-for-34. Philadelphia bench coach Pete Mackanin, as acting manager, removed Ibañez from the game and gave Mayberry left field.

It was right before 11 P.M. local time. Shulman got permission to tell TV viewers what multiple news outlets, including ESPN’s corporate cousin, had confirmed moments earlier:

ABC News is reporting that Osama bin Laden has been killed. … We ask all of you to go to your ABC stations for further details on that situation. For those of you staying with us, we’ll be back for the ninth inning momentarily here in Philadelphia with the game tied at 1.

What followed indicated a sea change in news consumption. Because more than one in three American adults now owned smartphones – and many of them had seen the initial rumors on Facebook and Twitter – it took mere seconds for Citizens Bank Park’s fans to react to the confirmation.6 Bergen Record columnist Tara Sullivan wrote that “through the power of the web and the fast pace of social media, the stadium engaged in one long game of telephone.”7

As the ninth inning began, chants sprouted near the third-base line.

“U-S-A! U-S-A!”

Soon fans all around the park were pumping fists. Attendees who just happened to be wearing red, white, and blue flaunted their clothes for the cameras. Roars reached a crescendo.

“U-S-A! U-S-A!”

The players had no clue what was happening. With a decade-old directive not to use electronic equipment during games, they were left to wonder.8 Bay, who came to bat with two outs, later said, “I’m Canadian. I’m thinking I’ve been called a lot of things, especially in Philly, but the ‘U-S-A’ thing – are they trying to get under my skin?”9

The teams solved the mystery soon enough. After Bay flied to center field for the third out, the Phillies returned to their dugout. A clubhouse trainer told Victorino, who passed it on. By the end of the ninth, entering extra innings, Bay and his fellow Mets had also learned.10

In the words of ESPN analyst Orel Hershiser earlier that inning: “It’s almost a where-were-you-when. I remember where I was – I know everybody does – when the towers were hit. Now we know where we were when [bin Laden] died.”

The announcing crew followed up in the New York 10th. Shulman noted that a televised speech by President Barack Obama was coming soon. At 11:35, around when pinch-hitter Willie Harris struck out swinging to end the frame, the president reached a White House podium:

Tonight I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.11

The address, which many other channels aired live, lasted less than 10 minutes. This allowed viewers to turn their TVs back to ESPN, where the late-night stalemate had still not broken.

An hour passed before the game reached the 14th inning. The Phillies were on their second catcher of the game, Dane Sardinha. Both teams were on their sixth pitchers. Both had used all available position players. Both had left more than a few runners in scoring position: six stranded by Philadelphia, 10 by New York.

A single to left field by Wright lent the Mets new opportunity. Bay singled, sending Wright to second base. A fly ball to center by Ike Davis sent the lead runner to third. And on Ronny Paulino’s fifth hit of the game, a double to deep left off Philadelphia’s Kyle Kendrick, Wright crossed home plate.12 New York 2, Philadelphia 1.

New York’s Taylor Buchholz, who had retired three straight Phillies in the 13th, repeated in the 14th. Orr popped out to shortstop Reyes. Cole Hamels, normally a starting pitcher, pinch-hit for Kendrick and grounded out to second base. Mayberry struck out swinging to end the game – at 12:53 A.M., after four hours and 44 minutes.13

The Mets’ losing skid was over. Buchholz pocketed his first win of the season. Kendrick took the loss.

The night did not reflect the teams’ regular-season fates. New York ended 2011 with a 77-85 record, marking a third straight losing season and third straight fourth-place finish in the NL East. And at a franchise-best 102-60, Philadelphia earned a fifth-consecutive division title.14

For an ESPN feature in 2016, Mets and Phillies alike recalled the crowd’s response to the bin Laden raid. Though some newspaper and magazine columnists had written articles calling the “U-S-A” chants jingoistic, Wright and other players viewed the display more positively: “For one night, it wasn’t Philadelphia and New York. It was the United States of America coming together.”15

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Keith Thursby. Additional thanks to Gary Belleville, Kurt Blumenau, and John Fredland for their input.

Photo credit: J. Reed/Creative Commons

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author consulted a recording of ESPN’s game telecast, available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgcYTesYDRM.

The author also used Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for the box score and other material.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI201105010.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2011/B05010PHI2011.htm

Notes

1 Video of Howard Cosell announcing John Lennon’s death is available at “Howard Cosell Announces John Lennon’s Death,” YouTube video (Classic Sports), 0:47, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OZUlxjTKSU.

Video of NBC News’ interruption of the NBA Finals is available at “1994 NBA Finals Game 5 Rockets at Knicks Full Game O.J. Simpson Chase,” YouTube video (aspolane), 2:27:49, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybf9iUE3G6U&t=8209s.

2 Schneider was playing in place of regular catcher Carlos Ruiz. Ruiz, who hadn’t played since April 27 due to lower back pain, returned to Philadelphia’s lineup on May 13. (For more on Ruiz’s condition, see Matt Gelb, “Phillies Place Blanton on DL,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 2011: C1.)

3 Young left the game after the seventh inning. It marked his final game of the 2011 season, as he underwent surgery on his throwing shoulder. He did not return to major-league play until the following June.

4 “May 1, 2011.”

5 Neil Best, “ESPN Keeps It Low-Key,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), May 3, 2011: A51.

6 Aaron Smith, “Overview of Smartphone Adoption,” Pew Research Center, July 11, 2011, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2011/07/11/overview-of-smartphone-adoption/, accessed November 2025; “Comscore Reports May 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share,” Comscore, July 5, 2011, https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press-Releases/2011/7/comScore-Reports-May-2011-US-Mobile-Subscriber-Market-Share, accessed November 2025.

7 Tara Sullivan, “Patriot Games,” Bergen (New Jersey) Record, May 3, 2011: S1.

8 The directive dates to 2001, when Major League Baseball’s then-executive vice president Sandy Alderson sent teams this memo: “Please be reminded that the use of electronic equipment during a game is restricted. No club shall use electronic equipment, including walkie-talkies and cellular telephones, to communicate to, or with, any on-field personnel, including those in the dugout, bullpen, field, and – during the game – the clubhouse. Such equipment may not be used for the purpose of stealing signs or conveying information designed to give a club an advantage.” Ken Rosenthal, “Red Sox Crossed a Line, and Baseball’s Response Must be Firm,” The Athletic, September 5, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/94995/2017/09/05/red-sox-crossed-a-line-and-baseballs-response-must-be-firm/. (In 2016 MLB began letting teams use iPads, strictly for reviewing scouting reports, analytics, and video from previous games.)

9 “May 1, 2011.”

10 “May 1, 2011.”

11 Mark Bowden, The Finish: The Killing of Osama bin Laden (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2012), 237.

12 The game marked Paulino’s first in the Mets’ defensive lineup. In addition to his 5-for-7 hitting performance, the catcher went 14 innings behind the plate.

13 Information on the time of the game’s end comes from Matt Gelb, “Lumber Slumber: Anemic Phillies Succumb to the Mets in 14 Innings,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2, 2011: D1.

14 The Phillies ultimately lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Division Series, three games to two.

15 “May 1, 2011.”