One Millionth Message Left on 9/11 Memorial Museum’s Signing Steel
More than one million people have left messages on the Signing Steel in the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
Remembering Martin Boryczewski’s Lifelong Passion for Baseball
Remembering Martin Boryczewski’s Lifelong Passion for Baseball
Martin Michael Boryczewski was a minor league baseball player turned trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. Collection 9/11 Memorial Museum, Gift of the Boryczewski family, in memory of Marty.
The 9/11 Memorial Museum collects objects in memory of the victims of 9/11, reflecting their individual careers, passions and affiliations. One recent acquisition recognizes Martin Michael Boryczewski’s lifelong passion for baseball.
Martin played on baseball teams throughout his childhood. After graduating from Morris Catholic High School, he earned a place on the team at Saint Peter’s College in New Jersey.
On top of scheduled practices and a grueling training schedule, Martin was so eager to improve his hitting skills that he sometimes snuck into the batting cages at night to log in extra swinging time. A college teammate, Drew Brown, noted that his performance as a defensive catcher was instrumental to the team’s conference championship win in 1994.
After graduating with a degree in financial management, Martin was recruited into the minor leagues.
Over the next four years, he played catcher for three minor league franchises: the Lethbridge Mounties, the Erie Sea Wolves and the Lakeland Tigers. His former hitting coach, Peter Venturini, remembers him as an “extremely driven” athlete, always striving improve his game.
When the call up to the majors failed to materialize, Martin pursued another ambitious career path: he joined Cantor Fitzgerald as a trader and began to work at the World Trade Center. On Sept. 11, 2001, Martin was at his office on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
Friends and family continue to remember Martin through the Friends of Marty scholarship, which raises funds by hosting an annual golf outing and auctioning the chance to throw the first pitch at a Morris Catholic High School baseball game. The scholarship is awarded to exceptional student athletes at Morris Catholic and Saint Peter’s College.
Martin’s college baseball jacket and a custom bat from his minor league days are now part of the 9/11 Memorial Museum permanent collection. Martin’s sister Julie noted that she chose the specific bat from her brother’s trove of baseball gear because it has a crack right about the grip. “Maybe from a home run,” she suggested.
Images of the objects, along with oral history clips and photos shared in Martin’s memory, can be found on his interactive table profile in the Museum’s In Memoriam exhibition.
By Kirsten Madsen, Memorial Exhibition Assistant Manager, 9/11 Memorial & Museum
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