Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz helps rescue childhood friends after boat capsized in Panama
Philadelphia Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz helped save the life of childhood friends Walter Dubarran and Jose Mercedes Rodriguez after their boat capsized in Panama, according to Jeffrey Eisenband of The Postgame.
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“Ruiz’s friends were lost in the water for 35-40 hours, but they were rescued thanks in part to Ruiz, who hired boats, helicopters and airplanes to search for them. “For almost two days, we were so worried,” Ruiz said. “We didn’t know if something was going to happen to them. I’m so happy they are OK. Now I can get back to the field.”
Ruiz was going to fly to Panama but after speaking to another friend decided to hire a search team that included his uncle, Manuel Rios; his brother, Joaquin, and other family friends on a private boat.
“I went to the ballpark and I make these phone calls to Panama,” Ruiz says. “The people were really nice to me. They said, ‘Don’t worry. Play hard.’ We’ll see if we can find them.”
The Phillies ended up being no-hit by Josh Beckett in a 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but after the game Ruiz returned to find seven missed calls to find out his friends were rescued.
“The first thing I did was I prayed to God and said thank you and wow,” Ruiz says after getting the news about Dubarran in the car home from the game. “When I came into my house, I got a hug from my brother, my wife and my little kid. It was grand. I was so happy.”
A popular sports cliche when a team is struggling or trending downward as the Phillies are is to say, ‘the ship be sinkin’, however that phrase should be avoided in the Phillies clubhouse after this all too real story of a ship sinking.
You can read the entire story describing the rescue from Eisenband here.