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Pirates fan rescues young spectator from bat to the head

Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

During Sunday’s spring training game featuring the Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves, a young spectator nearly had his face smashed in by an errant bat which flew out of the hands of Danny Ortiz.

The bat would have almost certainly fractured bones and/or his nose if not for a tremendously well-timed act of courage by the fan sitting in the seat next to the young boy. These two pictures, taken by Christopher Horner of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, show just how close Ortiz’s bat came to a disastrous end.

Thanks to the arm of this fan, the bat whipped right around the young boy’s face, rather than smashing directly into his nose and eyes.

For his part, Ortiz didn’t realize what had happened until he got home, per Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune-Review:

“I didn’t know what happened, if it (hurt) the boy or anything,” Ortiz said. “I went home and my wife said to me, ‘You almost killed that kid!’ ”

After seeing the same two pictures shown above, Ortiz realized just how close to tragedy his bat had come:

“I saw the picture. It was crazy,” Ortiz said. “That guy took (a blow) for the kid. The father, or whoever he was, he protected that kid.”

At this time, nobody knows the identity of the man who sacrificed his arm for the child’s face. Whoever he is, he should be lauded for his quick instincts to protect the boy who clearly was in no position to protect himself.

On another note, in an era where players are increasingly getting bigger, stronger and faster, MLB is far behind where it needs to be in terms of the safety of its fans. Flying bats shouldn’t be a safety hazard like this, especially when the technology exists to minimize or remove the risk altogether.

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