It was high. It was far. But unfortunately for veteran New York Yankees broadcaster John Sterling, it wasn’t his classic home run call this time. It was about rising water, and he was stuck.
Sterling narrowly escaped his flooding car on Wednesday, helped out by Spanish language radio play-by-play man Rickie Ricardo.
Sterling, like many in the New York area, became stuck trying to drive home Wednesday night as Hurricane Ida hit the metropolitan area. Sterling had finished a remote call on the Yankees-Los Angeles Angels game. .
Ricardo told WFAN today that the 83-year-old Sterling left Yankee Stadium around 10 PM. Ricardo stuck around for postgame show duties. .
As record rains pounded the New York area, Ricardo said that he was forced to navigate several closed and flooded streets. He then received a phone call from Sterling’s broadcast partner, Suzyn Waldman, who said that Sterling was stuck in his car on River Road in Edgewater, New Jersey, just over the George Washington Bridge.
“I’ve seen how bad it gets flooded on River Road in Edgewater, and with the kind of rain we had, I can only imagine,” Ricardo said. “So I said, ‘Suzyn, 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.'”
Ricardo reache Sterling and disovered he was one of roughly 25 vehicles stuck in flooding that covered the tires of most cars. But Ricardo was in a Jeep, and helped Sterling out of the vehicle and took him home to his apartment.
In related Yankees news, the team’s Double-A affiliate in New Jersey saw its TD Bank stadium totally flood. The stadium, which was built next to one of the worst superfund sites in the US, saw its entire infield and outfield covered with brackish water from the nearby Raritan River. It’s unclear when or if the stadium will be able to host its next game.
