Rodriguez Saves Boy From Truck

For the first time in his New York Yankee 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 Thursday night. As fate would have it, the boy, Patrick, is a die-hard Yankee fan.

“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. But when he turned around, he saw Patrick running into the street and directly toward the utility truck. Rodriguez said he acted instinctively, immediately 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 Thursday 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. “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 was off to the side and didn’t see the situation develop.

“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 Rodriguez then waved Yankee players Jorge Posada, Tino Martinez and Randy Johnson over to meet the family.

“Just a wild, wild story,” Rodriguez said.