Hit & Run: Red-hot Rod

There is no suggestion," said numerous newspapers and gossip websites yesterday, "that Madonna has to date had a physical relationship with Alex Rodriguez."

Yet it is the physical prowess of this lustiest of baseball sluggers that has been very much to the fore in discussion of a rumoured liaison. "Madonna thinks he's physically a great specimen," one of her "friends" divulged to the Daily Mail yesterday, "and if she is going to have another child, he would be the ideal man to bring one to her."

So who is he, this perfect partner? "A-Rod", as the third baseman for the New York Yankees is known Stateside, was until very recently an unknown outside the few nations that take an interest in baseball. His vital statistics, to fans of the ball game, are mightily impressive: he has scored a remarkable 553 homes runs, more than 2,400 base hits and has an exceptional RBI (runs batted in) rate. All of which probably matters very little to the millions who were yesterday encountering Rodriguez's image for the first time, though they may have noted one stat – with a salary of $28m (£16m), he is baseball's best-paid player.