Kurt Russell says A-Rod friendship reignited passion for baseball

<p>TORONTO – Actor Kurt Russell was once on the road to a major league baseball career, but a torn rotator cuff halted his dreams in 1973.</p> <p>After that, he followed the sport from afar through his nephew Matt Franco, whose 20-year career included stints with the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs and New York Mets.</p> <p>When Franco retired in 2003, Russell says he lost touch with the game. But that changed when his stepdaughter Kate Hudson began a romance with Yankees star Alex Rodriguez and he began a tight friendship with the New York slugger.</p> <p>”Alex Rodriguez and Kate were spending a lot of time together there a couple years ago and I had the great pleasure of really being very close to Alex during their pennant run and on into the World Series,” Russell says by phone from Los Angeles.</p> <p>”It was a very special year, a very special time and a great friendship came out of that. I think the world of him and (felt) connected to it at that time in a strange way – just in terms of being there for Alex in terms of conversations and serious baseball conversations as well, which was really fun. It’s the first time really since Matt finished playing that I have been involved with baseball at all.”</p> <p>Russell is delving back into the game this weekend as the honorary chair of a charity baseball event for cancer research in Toronto. Fundraising teams that collect $25,000 or more will get the chance to play alongside celebs that also include TV stars Julie Benz, Kevin Sorbo and Shemar Moore.</p> <p>The Strike Out Cancer event, benefiting Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, will also feature a host of retired pros including Roberto Alomar, Andre Dawson, Gary Carter and Gary Sheffield.</p> <p>So far, 20 teams have raised more than $700,000 for breast and ovarian cancer research, says Mount Sinai’s Lisa Colt, who is in charge of the fundraising initiative.</p> <p>Roughly $500,000 more has come in through ticket sales for a gala dinner and concert on Tuesday headlined by ’80s band Chicago, she says.</p> <p>Russell says he’s looking forward to meeting a lot of the players and taking part in the draft, when the teams will be assembled.</p> <p>”When I was playing ball we used to call us the Terribles versus the Horribles. So I’ll be on the Terribles,” joked the “Tango & Cash” and “Tequila Sunrise” star.</p> <p>Games will take place Sunday at a sprawling outdoor sports complex north of Toronto, where the public is invited to watch for free but are encouraged to make a donation.</p> <p>Russell and his stepdaughter were fixtures at Yankees games during Hudson’s romance with Rodriguez. They split in 2009 and Hudson is now having a baby with Muse frontman Matthew Bellamy.</p> <p>Russell thinks back fondly on that time as a period when he rediscovered the game.</p> <p>”I got reconnected and I really enjoyed that, It was a really fun year,” Russell says. “I must say that I always have a special place in my heart for anything to do with baseball.”</p> <p>Russell notes that his actor father Bing Russell also played pro ball, until he, too, was sidelined by an injury.</p> <p>”It’s really the family business that nobody knows about because our other business was sort of out there in the public and seen by a lot more people,” says Russell.</p> <p>”Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I’d have been playing down in some Mexican D-league…. But I had some good years. I had a lot of fun, I have zero regrets.”</p> <p>___</p> <p>On the Net: http://www.helpstrikeoutcancer.com</p&gt;