NEW YORK – Rickie Ricardo, a Spanish-born New York Yankees rower, rescued his English radio colleague John Sterling on Wednesday night, who was trapped in his car while it was flooding Wednesday night. after getting stuck when he tried to drive home.
Sterling and Ricardo worked out the Yankees ’last game on their visit to the Los Angeles Angels from Yankee Stadium because radio teams are not yet allowed to travel with the teams as part of the protocols for COVID-19.
On Thursday, Ricardo told WFAN that Sterling, 83, was the first to leave the stadium after the game ended around 10 p.m. ET, while Ricardo stayed a while for the post-show. game.
Ricardo said that when he finally left the park, the water in the main hall of Yankee Stadium reached his ankles and he found several streets closed and flooded as a result of the rains from the remnants of the hurricane. Ida. The storm killed at least 12 people in New York, including one who drowned in an act and 11 more in condominium basements, police said.
Sterling’s companion on the broadcasts, Suzyn Waldman, called Ricardo when he was trying to find a freeway home in New Jersey and told him that Sterling was inside his car on River Road in Edgewater, New Jersey, just over the bridge. George Washington.
“I’ve seen River Road flood into Edgewater,” Ricardo recounted. “And with the kind of rain we had, I was just imagining what was going on, so I said to Suzy, ‘I’m on my way. I more or less know where she lives (Sterling). I’ll see where she is and what I can do.'”
Ricardo called Sterling and kept him on the phone until he found him in one of about 25 cars stuck in the flood, which covered the tires of most vehicles. Ricardo, who drives a Jeep, stopped behind the car and Sterling helped him get out of himself. He said it took him about an hour to find a freeway in Sterling’s department, which was about half a mile (800 meters) away, but that in the end, he was able to bring it safe and sound.
Michael Kay, who broadcasts the Yankees games on television, also reported that he had trouble returning home Wednesday night in a tweet in which he said he planned to wait for the storm to pass at Fordham University in the Bronx. During the game, he also posted photos of the Yankee Stadium home completely completely underwater.