New York Yankees

Life-saving catch: Joe Torre’s daughter catches falling baby in Brooklyn

According to a New York Daily News report, Cristina Torre, daughter of former major league player, manager, and current executive Joe Torre, played the role of a hero on Wednesday.

While walking down Third Avenue in Brooklyn, Torre spotted a baby boy, said to be one year old, hanging off the edge of a storefront awning that was in serious danger of falling at least ten feet to the sidewalk below.

Torre, 44, quickly positioned herself underneath the awning and according to eyewitnesses was able to outstretch her arms at the moment the baby finally lost his grip and caught him in her arms, saving his life.

“The woman caught the baby,” said Kristen Bramsen, 48. “The baby was shaken. Everyone was going up to the woman and hugging her. I hugged her.”

But the daughter of the former Yankees manager didn’t gloat about the save.

“She just smiled and said she was in shock,” Bramsen recalled.

As fine a career as Joe Torre had on the field, he never made a better or more important catch than that.

Now the question becomes, how exactly did the one-year-old end up in such an incredibly dangerous position. According to police investigating the scene, it's believed the child slipped or crawled through a cardboard opening next to an air conditioning unit in a second story apartment. That left him stranded on the building's fire escape, where he eventually fell a good distance down on to the awning below where he managed to hold on just long enough to be saved by Cristina Torre.

The report also notes that police haven't determined where the child's parents were when the incident took place, but both Sam Miller, 23, and Tiffany Demetria, 24, were cuffed at the scene and could face endangering the welfare of a child and neglect charges.

That will all be sorted out in due time, so the finger-pointing and passing of judgment can wait. The most important news here is that the child escaped the incident unharmed thanks to a little bit of luck, and the very quick-thinking and incredibly strong effort of Cristina Torre.

She not only made her father and her family proud, she made all of us proud today.

Looking for more baseball chatter?
Follow @bigleaguestew, @Townie813, @AnswerDave and @MikeOz on Twitter
Also, check out the BLS Facebook Page

• Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:01 pm EDT
• Big League Stew
• Mark Townsend
• Comment

Report: A-Rod visited by Biogenesis operator Tony Bosch during 2012 ALCS

The Miami New Times has published new allegations on the Biogenesis case, including an amusing one that New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez was visited by clinic operator Tony Bosch during the 2012 ALCS. Apparently, what's supposed to be the biggest drug scandal in baseball since (or maybe including) BALCO involves a "doctor" making a house call.

The New York Daily News frames it as such:

According to a former business associate of Bosch, Rodriguez, mired in a slump that had seen him lose his starting job in the series against the Tigers, summoned Bosch to Detroit to help him.

... Porter Fischer says he confronted Bosch about the money owed to him when Bosch returned from Detroit after the Yankees were swept by the Tigers, a series in which A-Rod went 1-for-9.

A baseball source said the Yankees had no knowledge of Bosch traveling to Detroit during the 2012 ALCS.

Now this Bosch guy is a batting coach? Or are his pharmaceuticals more like magic slump-busting pills? How close was A-Rod to sacrificing a live chicken, or doing incantations to get help from the spirit of Charlie Lau?

It wouldn't be believable that A-Rod would risk meeting Bosch in Detroit — except that it's A-Rod. Reality is always a little twisted with him, so keep an open mind about it.

There's more, including Porter Fischer — the person who supplied the New Times with the Biogenesis documents in its original story — saying this:

"The people running Major League Baseball are the biggest scumbags on Earth as far as I'm concerned."

That's saying something, in this company. It's great stuff, the way reality TV can be entertaining trash. There's a high-speed car chase, a smash-and-grab of secret files, plenty of denials by Major League Baseball, death threats and plain envelopes stuffed with cash. Intrigue!

Read the New Times piece, accompanied by a story in USA Today about the MLB's arbitrator, Fredric Horowitz, who will be asked to judge all of this information as it relates to MLB's attempt to punish dozens of players for PED associations.

The bottom line: Horowitz must do what he feels is right, no matter that his decisions just might get him fired, which is what happened with Shyam Das, the previous arbitrator.

Looking for more baseball chatter?
Follow @bigleaguestew, @Townie813, @AnswerDave and @MikeOz on Twitter
Also, check out the BLS Facebook Page

• Wed Jun 19, 2013 12:29 pm EDT
• Big League Stew
• David Brown
• Comment

Yankees 0, Dodgers 6: Hughes bad, Offense Absent as Yankees split doubleheader

• Wed Jun 19, 2013 EDT
• Pinstripe Alley
• By HighFlyers28

Yankees lineup vs. Dodgers, Zoilo Almonte not in the lineup

Yankees lineup for game two, but Zoilo Almonte isn't in the lineup

• Wed Jun 19, 2013 EDT
• Pinstripe Alley
• By Jason Cohen

Yankees 6, Dodgers 4: Wild inning gives offense needed cushion to take Game One

The Yankees took Game One of today's double header from the Dodgers, thanks in part to a wild inning on the part of Ronald Belisario. Ichiro Suzuki starred on offense for the Yanks.

• Wed Jun 19, 2013 EDT
• Pinstripe Alley
• By Tanya Bondurant

Biogenesis: 'Likely' suspensions and Alex Rodriguez

The Yankees are going to wait on Alex Rodriguez, but can they?

• Wed Jun 19, 2013 EDT
• Pinstripe Alley
• By Jason Cohen

Defining and identifying Yankee aces

What exactly is an "ace" and how many have the Yankees had since World War II?

• Wed Jun 19, 2013 EDT
• Pinstripe Alley
• By Brian Stramaglia