As has often been said, not all heroes wear capes, nor do they all wear colorful costumes.
That was definitely the case, as it turns out, at the Major League Baseball game Tuesday that featured the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks, which was played at Chase Field.
Though the Diamondbacks won the game 4-3 in extra innings, it was a Phoenix pest control guy who made the save of the day and got floated as the game’s real MVP.
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Here’s what led up to beekeeper Matt Hilton getting the call:
The buzz started about five minutes before first pitch.
Mike Rock, the Diamondbacks vice president of baseball operations, got a call from the senior manager of events telling him a growing colony of bees was collecting atop the netting.
“She doesn’t usually call me about that time. I knew something was odd,” Rock said. “She said we have bees landing on the net right behind home plate. I said, How many? And she said, hundreds — no way, thousands. And I knew we had a problem.”
[…]
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts met with the umpires shortly after the delay began and the public address announcer told the crowd about the delay.
This is what the swarm looked like. Yikes:
Send us your best bee puns. Winner gets to keep the bees. pic.twitter.com/upzxt0v27H
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 1, 2024
When Hilton, Blue Sky Pest Control’s branch manager, arrived on the scene, he received a welcome befitting of a hero, complete with songs played in the background as he suited up and did his work, like En Vogue’s “Whatta Man” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero”:
Bee keeper has arrived. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/sP6eqFiIey
— Tim Neverett (@TimNeverett) May 1, 2024
The most popular man at Chase Field tonight. #dbacks #beekeeper pic.twitter.com/NOG2XLty6X
— John Marshall (@jmarshallap) May 1, 2024
RedState’s own Becca Lower was at the game and shared this clip:
Oops, actually, this is him! Beekeeper saves the day! #Dbacks #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/mywsAMArVg
— Becca Lower (@BeccaJLower) May 1, 2024
At various points Hilton had a little fun and raised his arms to fire up the crowd a bit more:
First time a beekeeper gets a standing ovation as he basks in glory pic.twitter.com/7xzmFStilz
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 1, 2024
— wow that was crazy (@CowardlyDoggo) May 1, 2024
And in what may have been the most legendary move of all, Hilton was given the opportunity to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Watch as he dramatically unzipped the netting of his suit and posed for the crowd prior to taking to the pitcher’s mound:
The Bee Guy throwing out ceremonial first pitch pic.twitter.com/bLzWOtbZhU
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 1, 2024
Not the best pitch, but who cared by that point?
Later, we learned that Hilton was at his son’s last t-ball game of the season when he was called in to take care of the situation.
He even got his own press conference!
Matt Hilton is having the time of his life. He had to leave his son’s t-ball game, but he allowed the Dodgers/#Dbacks to play clearing the bees away, & he gets to live the dream of a baseball player throwing first pitch & speaking to the media. #LADvsARI https://t.co/GAxFVyUVD4
— NYCSporty X (@NYCsporty) May 1, 2024
And the quote of the day from Twitter user “Kyle”:
“This man woke up this morning and went to work. He’s going to bed as a small part of baseball history. That’s awesome.”
Yes! Gotta love it. If there was ever a time we needed a red-blooded #Merica story, it is now. Thank you, Matt Hilton and, um, the bees, of course…
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