In the annals of baseball history, you typically think of larger-than-life figures when it comes to the sport’s most heroic moments.
Take, for instance, the world-famous 1988 World Series walk-off home run from baseball folk hero Kirk Gibson.
The then-Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder was battered, injured and barely able to round the bases (as you’ll soon see), but when his team needed him most, he delivered on the biggest stage:
Well, turns out you don’t need to be a larger-than-life figure, nor on the biggest stage, to deliver when your baseball team needs it most.
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You can be a humble batboy, and still be a massive hero for a franchise as storied as those very same Dodgers.
A clear-cut example of this came during the typically mellow doldrums of June professional baseball.
The Dodgers traveled to face the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, in an otherwise nondescript game.
The much better Dodgers (51-31 going into Friday evening’s games, and the top team in the NL West) beat the woeful White Sox (22-61, and in dead-last place in the AL Central) to the score of 4-0.
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The Dodgers opened up their 4-0 lead in the third inning and never looked back.
Much to the thanks of both the Dodgers franchise and its do-it-all superstar Shohei Ohtani, one team batboy also wasn’t looking backwards — because Ohtani could be devastatingly injured otherwise.
First, the viral clip:
大谷さんを守るスーパーナイスキャッチ pic.twitter.com/Jigysd79Ta
— Summer🌈 (@Showy___17) June 27, 2024
According to X’s metrics, the video has been viewed over six million times since being posted on Thursday — and it’s easy to see why.
According to the Kansas City Star, during the middle of the game, Ohtani’s own teammate, Dodgers outfielder Kike Hernandez fouled off a pitch, which sent the baseball careening towards the Dodgers dugout.
As you can see in the above clip, as soon as most of the Dodgers personnel noticed what was barreling towards the dugout, they all flinched and, no pun intended, tried to get out of Dodge.
But not that batboy, who may as well have been Batman in that moment. Showing lightning-quick, ninja-like reflexes, the young man — bare-handed, no less — caught the rocketing baseball.
That move looks to have very clearly averted disaster because that baseball was heading right towards Ohtani.
And while losing any player to injury is bad for a team, it’s hard to describe Ohtani as just “any player.”
The Japanese prodigy is the rare dual threat, being both a fantastic hitter and a dynamite pitcher.
That double skill set earned the 29-year-old superstar a record 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers in December 2023.
Both of Ohtani’s cherished skills, his health and that $700 million investment were saved on Wednesday, all thanks to the heroics of a humble batboy.
Baseball legends don’t get much cooler than that.
