Former US President George W. Bush has recounted a light-hearted exchange with New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter moments before he threw a ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium in the weeks following the 11 September 2001 attacks. Bush shared the anecdote alongside his former national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, at a reunification event at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas, as the nation approaches the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

Bush recalled that during the October 2001 World Series, Jeter warned him, "Don't bounce it, they'll boo you," easing some of the tension he felt while leading the country through a fragile period. He described the pitch itself as nerve-wracking, saying the catcher looked "really tiny" and the ball felt "really heavy," while he sensed the crowd's defiant mood, imagining they were thinking attackers could destroy buildings but not America's spirit. The pitch reached the plate successfully, a moment Bush called "amazing" and "memorable." The 25th anniversary of the attacks, in which nearly 3,000 people died after hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, falls this coming Friday.