Joe Torre's Daughter Caught A Baby Who Fell From 2nd Story Fire Escape

Thanks to the four World Series victories he earned as a manager of the Yankees, Joe Torre is revered throughout much of New York City, but this week, it was the future Hall of Famer’s daughter Cristina who earned widespread acclaim after she caught a baby while walking down the street. That’s right. You read the previous sentence correctly. She was minding her own business and walking down the street when someone’s baby fell from the sky, and like Superman in a comic book, she swooped in and caught the little guy, who apart from some minor dings is fine.

So, how does a baby fall from the sky? Well, police are still trying to figure out all of the details, but according to CNN, the one-year-old removed some cardboard covering a hole by his apartment’s air conditioner, crawled out onto the fire escape and started climbing down off the edge. Torre, a teacher at Montessori in New York City, was miraculously walking by at the time and spotted the boy dangling and trying to hold on. So, she positioned herself below the fire escape in case he fell and like a multi-tasking all-star, called 911 to report the emergency while keeping her eyes on the baby. At that point, the child slipped, fell off the fire escape, bounced off an awning and landed in Torre’s arms in a scene of adulation that may or may not have reminded onlookers of this one.

Here’s what Torre told CNN…

True champions frequently downplay their own accomplishments. They do their best to maintain a level head, to stay humble and to not act like Big Ern from Kingpin. Considering whose daughter this is, however, none of us should be very surprised that she acted with poise, confidence and incredible competence. Remember that fly ball hit toward you with two outs in the ninth inning when you were a little kid? Remember how much pressure you felt to catch it and not let everyone down? Multiply that by the hopes, dreams and entire future of a baby and you’ll start to understand how much pressure Cristina must have felt to not drop this kid.

Unfortunately, while the aftermath of this incident has been all shoulder dusting and celebratory high fives for Torre, the fallout hasn’t been quite so kind to the kid’s parents. Child Protective Services was on the scene almost immediately, and after a quick look around, the couple’s three other children, all between the ages of 2 and 5, were taken, and the pair themselves were arrested on charges of endangering their brood. Their mistake may not have been as mean-spirited as others that have attracted national headlines, but it proved to be a whole lot more dangerous than just generic, run of the mill stupidity.

Here’s to hoping this baby grows up and cures cancer, invents a delicious sandwich or accomplishes something else befitting the second chance he got.