The Real Story Behind Evan Longoria's Crazy Baseball Catch

It's the ultimate heroic moment. A few years ago, we all saw the video in which Tampa Bay Rays third baseman and all-star Evan Longoria does what amounts to saving someone's life when he barehands a fly ball heading directly towards ESPN's Kenny Mayne from one of his Rays teammates during batting practice. We were all impressed by Evan's extremely quick reaction time and his confident ability to catch the ball bare handed. Not to mention of course the impressive level of awareness he has. We were all amazed and the video went viral.

Watch the famous video:

Alas, all this was not real. In a genius move by Gillette's marketing team, right after filming a commercial with Evan Longoria that took them a few hours to finish, they asked Evan to shoot a very quick 1-2 minute video that will be filmed only using a handheld camera and the stadium's lights without any extra preparations.

What are some of the things that gave it away?

For one thing, Gillette's logo is plastered all over the background elements of the video. This video was filmed at McKechnie Field in Florida and at no point did it ever have so many Gillette signs all over.

Another giveaway comes from knowing the game of baseball. The safety cage usually at BPs that also allows players not to have to run all over the field collecting missed balls is no where to be seen. At the very least there should be a catcher and there's no one. Even more importantly, there is no safety net to protect the pitcher, something MLB teams would never do during BPs.

Who knew at the time that years later this low production video would be seen by millions more than the real commercial?

(Source)