Bobby Valentine and Mike Piazza before the Mets' game against the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium on September 21, 2001. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Allsport/Getty Images) Bobby Valentine and Mike Piazza before the Mets' game against the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium on September 21, 2001. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Allsport/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine joined WFAN radio on the 12th anniversary of 9/11 to talk about baseball’s role in the aftermath of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Valentine didn’t hold back, and admitted there were some raw feelings about how the Mets were perceived compared to the crosstown Yankees in the days and weeks that followed.

“Let it be said that during the time from 9/11 to 9/21, the Yankees were (not around),” Valentine told Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts on Wednesday. “You couldn’t find a Yankee on the streets of New York City. You couldn’t find a Yankee down at Ground Zero, talking to the guys who were working 24/7.”

He added: “Many of them didn’t live here, and so it wasn’t their fault. And many of them did not partake in all that, so there was some of that jealousy going around. Like, ‘Why are we so tired? Why are we wasted? Why have we been to the funerals and the firehouses, and the Yankees are getting all the credit for bringing baseball back?’ And I said ‘This isn’t about credit, guys. This is about doing the right thing.'”

Members of the Yankees, including Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter and manager Joe Torre, visited rescue staging areas at the Jacob Javits Center, the Armory and St. Vincent’s Hospital four days after the attacks.