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Alex Rodriguez made his greatest catch of the year on Tuesday and it didn't involve a glove or a ball.
The Yankee third baseman said he was hurrying across Newbury Street near the Bombers' team hotel around 3:30 p.m. when he looked up and saw a young child running into the crosswalk, oblivious to the traffic that was coming toward him. Thinking quickly, A-Rod reached out his hand and grabbed the boy as a car whizzed by, nearly hitting both of them.
"He's done, game over, no question," Rodriguez said when asked what he thought would have happened if he hadn't been there. "It was going to be ugly. ... That was a train wreck about to happen.
"I almost got it too," he said.
The boy, 8-year-old Patrick McCarthy, was doubly grateful - he was already a fan of A-Rod and the Yanks, and reportedly has tickets to see the Bombers in the Bronx this week.
"This guy just put his hand in front of me and stopped me. ... He said, 'Whoa, watch out, buddy,'" McCarthy said in a television interview yesterday. "I was like, Wow! Like I was shocked, because he's my favorite player on the Yankees."
Rodriguez said the boy seemed to have no idea about the near-disaster he avoided and surely wouldn't have seen the car because a truck was parked right by the curb. The boy's mother thanked him, he said, as he continued on his way. A-Rod said he didn't stop to talk to the people and wasn't even sure they knew who he was.
The Yankee third baseman said he was hurrying across Newbury Street near the Bombers' team hotel around 3:30 p.m. when he looked up and saw a young child running into the crosswalk, oblivious to the traffic that was coming toward him. Thinking quickly, A-Rod reached out his hand and grabbed the boy as a car whizzed by, nearly hitting both of them.
"He's done, game over, no question," Rodriguez said when asked what he thought would have happened if he hadn't been there. "It was going to be ugly. ... That was a train wreck about to happen.
"I almost got it too," he said.
The boy, 8-year-old Patrick McCarthy, was doubly grateful - he was already a fan of A-Rod and the Yanks, and reportedly has tickets to see the Bombers in the Bronx this week.
"This guy just put his hand in front of me and stopped me. ... He said, 'Whoa, watch out, buddy,'" McCarthy said in a television interview yesterday. "I was like, Wow! Like I was shocked, because he's my favorite player on the Yankees."
Rodriguez said the boy seemed to have no idea about the near-disaster he avoided and surely wouldn't have seen the car because a truck was parked right by the curb. The boy's mother thanked him, he said, as he continued on his way. A-Rod said he didn't stop to talk to the people and wasn't even sure they knew who he was.
