ARod saves boy's life.

jesusarenque · #1 04-15-2005, 12:42 AM

Now THAT is clutch.

BOSTON -- For the first time in his Yankees career, Alex Rodriguez was cheered in Boston, but it had nothing to do with anything he did on the baseball field.

Rodriguez risked his life Wednesday to save an 8-year-old boy from getting hit by a fast-moving truck on Newbury Street, the boy's father, Joe McCarthy, said last night. As fate would have it, the boy, Patrick, is a diehard Yankees fan living in Red Sox Nation.

"I can't express enough gratitude," Joe McCarthy said. "He saved my son's life."

Rodriguez said he was about to enter a car when he noticed a truck heading in his direction and quickly decided to step back to protect himself. When he turned around, he saw young Patrick running into the street and directly toward the utility truck. A-Rod said he acted instinctivelyduring the lunchtime incident, grabbing the boy and pulling him back with him.

"I was trying to get out of the way, and the kid was running the other way," Rodriguez said before last night's game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. "He was about to run into the street and I kind of just put my arm around him. We both almost got run over."

"It was just unbelievable, truly a God moment," Joe McCarthy said from his Martha's Vineyard home. "A-Rod could have been seriously hurt, but that didn't stop him. It was the best catch of his career."

Joe McCarthy said he, Patrick and the boy's mother, Grace Bochicchio, had just left a Niketown store in the heart of Boston's downtown shopping district. McCarthy said he was off to the side and didn't see the situation develop, but heard the sound of a screeching truck, "oohs" from the crowd, then cheers. When he looked up, he saw his son in Rodriguez's arms as well as a few stunned expressions from onlookers.

"The kid was running into the street and he was about to get run over by a car," Rodriguez added. "From his vantage point he couldn't see the truck coming."

According to his father, who said he was born and raised in Manhattan, Patrick told Rodriguez how much he followed the Yankees while still in his arms. McCarthy said A-Rod then waved over Yankees players Jorge Posada, Tino Martinez and Randy Johnson, who were nearby leaving the team's hotel, to meet the family.

"It was such an unbelievable scene, especially since we're the only Yankees fans in Martha's Vineyard," McCarthy said. The family is headed to New York this weekend for a grandmother's 70th birthday party and will see the Yankees Monday and Tuesday.

McCarthy estimated that the family goes to about 15 Yankees games a year at the Stadium and said Patrick even received a personal letter from general manager Brian Cashman last week after the boy mailed the Yankees his Little League baseball cards.

"Brian wrote a great letter back and said they're going to keep the cards on file," McCarthy said. "Patrick just keeps saying that when he becomes a pitcher for the Yankees, he hopes Alex is still playing."
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Dead · #2 04-15-2005, 12:45 AM

All class, that A-Rod.

What a great guy. Definitely a candidate for my next avatar change.

sublime · #3 04-15-2005, 01:00 AM

to bad the truck didn get both of them

jesusarenque · #4 04-15-2005, 01:05 AM

Did you ever notice how ARod never saved anybody's life before he came to NY? It must be Jeter's leadership, heart, and clutchness rubbing off on him.