Bigger Than The Game

From Sports Illustrated

Nomar Garciaparra - Dodgers First Baseman

Nomar Garciaparra has famously rescued his teammates. His home run in the 10th inning against the Padres on Sept. 18 capped one of the greatest comebacks in Dodgers history. But his most significant rescue doesn't involve baseball. In October 2005 the former Red Sox shortstop was cleaning his Charlestown, Mass., condo overlooking Boston Harbor with his wife, Mia Hamm, and his uncle Victor Campos when they heard a splash and a scream. Garciaparra bolted to his balcony: A woman had fallen into the harbor.

Garciaparra sprinted to the marina. Meanwhile, another woman had fallen off the pier trying to help her friend. Garciaparra climbed a fence and jumped into the cold waters. When he reached the women, he took both in his arms and swam to a dock, where Campos pulled them out. "They were combative at first," Campos told the Chicago Tribune, "but when we pulled them up, one girl recognized [my nephew] and said, 'Are you Nomar?'"

Garciaparra, for his part, did not want a big deal made out of the rescue. "If I ever needed help," he said, "I would hope others would react the same way."

From Sports Illustrated