Father Saves Son's Face From Flying Baseball Bat At Pirates Spring Training Game
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A father stepped up Saturday to save his son from a painful disaster in the stands.
Shaun Cunningham took his 8-year-old son to the Spring Training game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves on Saturday.
Cunningham's son plays baseball, but this was the first professional game he'd seen in person. During the game, the young Braves fan took a picture of the surroundings to mark the occasion.
While looking at the photo, a bat flew into the stands. Shaun acted quickly and blocked the bat just before it would have struck his son in the face. According to the mother, the bat still hit the boy in the shoulder, but he is okay. Meanwhile, Shaun suffered some bruising on his wrist.
Pictures posted by Tribune-Review photographer Christopher Horner show the man's forearm stretched out just as a flying bat is about to collide with a boy's face.
@BiertempfelTrib The two frames showing just how close the bat was to the boy's head. pic.twitter.com/7VwnfWp8L1
— Christopher Horner (@Hornerfoto1) March 6, 2016
The bat belonged to Pirates' outfielder Danny Ortiz. The family had to leave during the seventh inning and were unable to meet Ortiz to ask for an autograph.
While they didn't get the autograph, they did get to keep the bat.
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