CRANFORD, N.J. (PIX11) - On the hallowed baseball ground that is Yankee Stadium, many heroes have played, but last month it was a group of young men off the field that were the heroes.
"We were just trying to help and trying to find a light at the end of the tunnel," said Cranford, New Jersey, native Robert Salvatore.
On July 7, five friends from Cranford went to watch the New York Yankees take on the Boston Red Sox on a Sunday night. Right around first pitch, they received word that a young man from their town with special needs was missing.
"We obviously felt extremely bad because we all knew him from Cranford baseball," said Salvatore.
The boy, a beloved member of the Cranford baseball community, had somehow gotten out on his own. All of Cranford, meanwhile, went scrambling to find him.
"As the game went along, we kept getting more and more updates and more and more leads that he was at Yankee Stadium or near Yankee Stadium," said Salvatore.
It seemed unbelievable. But at that moment, they knew they had to do something. Leaving their seats, they alerted stadium security and left the stadium to search for him, along with officers from the NYPD.
"We split up into two groups, going first base side and third base side, just trying to look for him," said Kurt Petschow. "We told ourselves we're not leaving the Bronx until we find him."
Then, one of the most clutch moments you'll ever see at the stadium happened.
"I saw a Yankee store and I was like, 'I wouldn't be surprised if he was over there,'" said Nolan Spurr. "Me and Zach [Carter] started walking over there and about halfway there, we saw him. We were like, 'Wow, I can't believe we actually found him.'"
There he was, Yankees shirt and all. Before the night was over, the group was given the chance to walk onto the field for a photo, and police brought them back to the precinct for a send-off.
"Thank God we did actually find him," said Salvatore. "We were just trying to do the right thing."
You may know all the names of the star-studded Yankees lineup, but on this day it was the lineup of Carter, Petschow, Salvatore, Spurr and Zach Jones who delivered this big win in the Bronx.
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