Everyone should be so lucky as to have a co-worker like Rickie Ricardo. The Yankees’ Spanish broadcaster was called into service on Wednesday night when his English language counterpart, John Sterling, became stranded in Edgewater, New Jersey. Ricardo called in to tell Moose and Maggie on WFAN the story on Thursday morning.
“Usually when we finish a game, John Sterling is the first one to leave. He does the totals, the wrap up, and he and his engineer, they go.,” Ricardo explained. “I stick around. I do the Spanish post-game show, so you know, I’m the last one to leave the stadium.”
As he left, it was clear that Tropical Storm Ida was wreaking havoc on New York City.
“It was amazing to see Yankee Stadium, the lobby at Yankee Stadium, completely flooded. I’m talking water above your ankles,” Rickie Ricardo said.
Because of streets flooding around Yankee Stadium, it took him an extraordinarily long time for Ricardo to get to the George Washington Bridge. That was fortunate for both John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, who called Ricardo to say Sterling needed help. His car was stranded on River Road in Edgewater, New Jersey.
“I said ‘Alright Susan. I’m on my way. I more or less know where he lives. I’ll figure out where he’s at and see what I can do.’”
Rickie Ricardo dialed John Sterling’s number ten times before he finally got through. Things didn’t get any easier when the radio voice of the Yankees picked up the phone.
Because power was out, it was too dark for Sterling to accurately tell Ricardo where he was. All he could say for sure was that he was in front of a Chinese restaurant with a bagel shop on the corner.
When Ricardo finally did find Sterling, he saw just how many people were in the same proverbial boat.
“Literally, there are at least, guys, 25 cars stranded,” he said describing the scene.
Water had completely covered Sterling’s wheels. Ricardo rolled up his pant legs, made sure Sterling had everything he needed, and got his friend into his Jeep.
If it seemed that getting to Sterling would be the hard part, Rickie Ricardo said there was a surprise to come. It took an hour to get to Sterling’s apartment, which was only a half-mile away from the scene.
“I finally got John home, wet, about an hour and a half to two hours after the game had ended,” Ricardo said, adding it then took him close to another hour to get home himself.
While there was plenty of concern for John Sterling, Maggie Gray wanted to make sure Ricardo’s action got the proper recognition.
“I’ll stand and applaud for Rickie Ricardo coming through and rescuing national treasure John Sterling,” she said.