Sports card company Topps is releasing a collectible card featuring an unlikely baseball star: a squirrel that ran onto the field during a New York Yankees game against the Boston Red Sox.
The squirrel briefly stopped play during Friday’s game when it ran out onto the field at Yankee Stadium during the top of the fourth inning and approached Yankees pitcher Max Fried on the mound.
“That’s the first time it’s happened to me,” Fried told MLB.com. “My first reaction was, ‘Don’t do anything that might embarrass you.’ I thought it was just going to run around, but it came straight to me and went in the little hole I created on the mound.”
Video from the game shows Fried and squirrel in a stare-down.
“At one point, I think I just said, ‘OK, buddy, let’s go,'” Fried said. “He just did his thing. It’s definitely a little strange, but it’s all in good fun.”
Play resumed when the squirrel made its way to the foul zone, and the animal was last seen darting through the chain-link fence into the scoreboard area.
The animal failed to reach “rally squirrel” status, as the Yankees went on to lose 1-0, but Topps revealed a new Topps Now card on Saturday featuring photos of the squirrel.
“It’s nuts! Furry friend takes mound at Yankee Stadium,” the card reads.
The card, listed for $8.99, was already sold out by Monday.
