Relive Javier Baez’s chaotic baserunning play, five years laterJesse RogersMay 27, 2026, 07:00 AM ETClose
- Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.
Throughout his 13-year major league career, Javier Baez has been known for his daring feats on the basepaths with El Mago’s wildest moment happening on May 27, 2021, in Pittsburgh.
With two outs in the top of the third inning and Chicago Cubs teammate Willson Contreras on second base, Baez hit a routine ground ball to third — which should have ended the inning. Instead, what ensued was pure “chaos” after Pirates first baseman Will Craig got pulled off the bag by the throw from third baseman Erik Gonzales. Rather than continuing to first as almost any other runner would have, Baez went backward, retreating toward home plate — and drawing Craig with him.
The unexpected maneuver set off an improbable sequence that ended with Contreras scoring and Baez catching his breath on second base. Both dugouts, as well as the umpires, were in disbelief as Baez dusted himself off and mouthed, “I’m safe, right?”
“I didn’t plan it,” Baez stated at the time. “It was a crazy play. … Let’s say I improvised. I’m pretty good at tagging and not letting people tag me.”
ESPN spoke to more than a dozen players, coaches, umpires and broadcasters who witnessed a play that instantly went viral. Here is how they remember Baez’s magic a half-decade later.
The Pirates quickly learned there is no such thing as a routine play when Javier Baez is involved. Joe Sargent/Getty ImagesPirates third baseman Erik Gonzales: “He hit a ground ball to me. I threw the ball to first. It was 2 or 3 feet from the base, up the line. And because there were two outs, after I throw the ball, I’m heading to the dugout. I figured he would touch the base. Me and [shortstop] Kevin Newman, we went to the dugout and we see that we have to go back to the field again.”What are you doing? What are you doing?”Pirates starting pitcher Tyler Anderson: “When he threw it to Will, it pulled him off the line a little bit but Javy was only like halfway there. He starts running back at him towards home and I was like, ‘What do we have here?’ And Will was a good first baseman! He won a Gold Glove in the minors.”Editor’s Picks
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Pirates catcher Michael Perez: “Our first baseman fell for Javy’s trap. Everyone was literally off the field. They were all walking towards the dugout. They looked back like, ‘What is going on?’ Even me, I was saying, ‘What is going on?’
First base umpire Gabe Morales: “The throw was offline. I’m waiting for a potential pulled foot or a swipe tag. It didn’t turn into that obviously. He started chasing the guy. I was thinking, ‘Why doesn’t he just step on first?'”
Anderson: “I was like, ‘Go step on first base.’ But no one is there.”
Second baseman Adam Frazier: “I was standing at second, yelling ‘tag him.'”
Pirates radio play-by-play announcer Joe Block: “We’re kind of yelling ‘just tag him, just tag him.'”
Pirates left fielder Ben Gamel: “I thought we were going to get out of the inning then it turned into a debacle to say the least.”
As Craig walked Baez back toward the plate, Contreras reached third base and headed home. He and Baez were about to converge on home plate — from opposite directions.
Cubs manager David Ross: “I was kind of watching Willson as Javy did his thing. I saw him working toward home and I assumed they were going to pick it up and step on the base. I couldn’t believe they didn’t do that. When the first baseman panicked and tried to get Willson, that’s when I knew it was chaos.”
Home plate umpire Ryan Additon: “All of a sudden, I see this runner coming in from third. Then I see Javy still juking him out a little bit. He keeps coming and gets dang near the plate.”
Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo: “You don’t even know what you’re seeing as it’s unfolding, honestly.”
Morales: “I didn’t want to get too close to home. You never want two umpires right on top of the same call. I started creeping towards home plate but never got all the way there.”
While Javier Baez started an unlikely pickle down the first-base line, Willson Contreras slid in safely into home plate. Joe Sargent/Getty ImagesAs Contreras came barreling home, Craig stopped walking toward Baez and instead flipped the ball to Perez in order for him to tag Contreras — even though getting Baez out would end the inning without the run counting. Contreras slid in safely.On-deck hitter and Cubs outfielder Ian Happ: “He hit it to third and it was like ‘OK, that’s the end of the inning.’ But then chaos ensued. And from the on-deck circle, OK, Willson scored but if he’s out at first, the run would not count. Before you know it, the ball is in three different places and Javy kept running and running.”
Anderson: “It didn’t get that hectic or chaotic until Will threw to home.”
Perez: “When he was halfway from first to home, I was like ‘I don’t know about this.’ I was very surprised when he flipped me the ball.”
The Cubs’ TV crew still wasn’t traveling due to COVID-19 restrictions, leaving play-by-play man Boog Sciambi and analyst Jim Deshaies to make sense of the madness from Chicago.
Sciambi: “Doing those games was so bizarre. We’re at Wrigley Field and calling the game off the monitor. The thing that was so wild was we couldn’t see everything, so when Contreras comes sliding home, if you listen to my call, I think I stated, ‘Oh my goodness!’ It’s because he came out of nowhere. It’s like he parachuted from the top of the upper deck.”
Deshaies: “Watching it all unfold, I’m thinking, he’s going to get away with this.”
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Pirates manager Derek Shelton: “If Javy takes another step-and-a half and is crossing the plate, he’s out and the inning is over. No one knew that either.”
Additon: “If Baez would have touched home plate, he would have been out, end of inning. I was reading that and then reading the tag. You can’t come all the way back to the plate.”
Deshaies: “It’s just about Javy. No one tries that. No one even thinks to try that.”
As Contreras slid home, perhaps the most iconic moment of the play occurred: Baez made the safe call himself just feet from home plate, though he still hadn’t been declared out or reached base safely. After making the signal, he took off for an uncovered first base.
Additon: “Me and Javy called safe at the plate at about the same time.”
Deshaies: “The fact that he called Willson safe at home plate before he started running to first was just hilarious.”
Anderson: “The word is chaos. It was just utter chaos. That’s what Javy would do.”
The Pirates still had a chance to get Baez out — and erase the run — but someone needed to cover first since Craig was way down the line. With Baez headed to the bag, second baseman Adam Frazier — who was headed to the dugout — reversed course. Perez tried to throw it to him while he was on the run, but the ball ended up in right field where outfielder Gregory Polanco finally tracked it down.
Ross: “As the manager, I’m waiting to see, are they just going to throw it to first and none of this is going to matter? And when they didn’t, it was comical. Only that would happen to Javy and only Javy would make that happen.”
Morales: “I realized we might have another close play at first so I’m backpedaling, trying to get out of the way because the second baseman is coming across. I’m thinking it’s going to be a super close play at first. I don’t want to get overturned on this so I’m focused on the bag and I don’t even see the ball not get caught.”
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Frazier: “That was a messed up play. I don’t know what else I could do, but run to first sooner.”
Perez: “Frazier was playing second base, and he was almost at third base because he was heading toward the dugout. If I threw it perfectly, he would have been out. So I threw it into right field, then Polanco fell down. What a mess.”
Additon: “The crazy part is he runs to first, but he’s inside the baseline. If that throw hits him then he’s out there too, and the run doesn’t score.”
As Polanco picked up the ball in right field, Baez took off for second, sliding in safely when that throw was offline as well.
Rizzo: “Somehow, he ends up on second. That’s Javy.”
Gamel: “I just remember a lot of nonsense that could have been avoided.”
Anderson: “Somehow the ball ended back in my hands behind second base to end the play. And I was like, ‘What just happened?'”
Finally, it was over. The Cubs’ dugout exploded in joy. Happ followed with an RBI single and the Cubs would go on to win the game 5-3.
Additon: “After that, all I see is the Cubs’ dugout laughing and Rizzo’s big smile and belly laughing.”
Rizzo: “Javy was a wild man on the bases. You couldn’t help but laugh.”
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Happ: “At that time, the El Mago thing had caught on, and he really was a magician. He had a way of making the ball not find him. He has the best field vision I’ve ever seen of any baserunner. It just felt like he knew where everyone was and where the ball was at all times.”
Sciambi: “It was one of the most wild plays I’ve ever seen in my life. It was so much fun. And it was the epitome of him. The guy that makes magic.”
Perez: “That was a crazy play. Everyone knows Javy Baez can do one of those plays. That’s why everyone calls him El Mago.”
Block: “It was just a circus play. May as well see a bearded lady and an elephant walking on a tightrope.”
Five years later, many of the players from that game — including Baez — are no longer with the Cubs or Pirates, but whenever May 27 rolls around, it brings them all right back to that incredible sequence at PNC Park.
Morales: “When it was over I thought it was unusual. I typically don’t get too many phone calls and texts about random games in Pittsburgh, but I started getting texts about it. I didn’t realize it had gotten so much attention online.”
Block: “In the moment, I realized this was an all-timer. A lot of times people ask me about a play and I don’t have great recall but I do on this one.”
Shelton: “It’s a really freaky play we’ll see one time in a lifetime. Unfortunately, I saw it as the manager of that team.”
Anderson: “It’s the one I get texts about all the time. Everyone has seen the play. So people that I know, it’ll pop up their feed or whatever and they’ll be like, ‘Oh my gosh I didn’t know you were on the mound. I probably get three to four texts a year like that.”
Ross: “Definitely a comical moment and one I’ll never forget as long as I live, and I think I’ve got four or five of those stories with Javy.”
Frazier: “Every now and then it’ll pop up online and it’ll go viral, and people realize I’m the one running from second to first. We can laugh about it now.”
