For a brief period of time, Kevin Pillar looked like the most badass baseball player on the planet on Wednesday. He appeared in the Mets lineup for the first time in about a month after taking a fastball to the face which put him on the IL.
When he went up to bat against the Orioles on Wednesday, Mets fans quickly noticed that his bat was covered in a particular substance. Immediately, the thought was that he brought up the same bat he used when he was smashed in the face with a pitch, and that the substance was blood. It's not hard to see where that idea came from when you see the image on the TV.
. @KPILLAR4 using the bat that’s covered in his blood after getting smashed in the face by a heater is pretty bad ass. pic.twitter.com/HAahhb4cml
— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) June 10, 2021
It would have been one of those mythological stories in sports that fans would have repeated for years as an example of why the players who don Mets colors are simply "Built Different" -- Pillar homered twice with the bat. Unfortunately for those hoping for such an outcome, as the Mets player explained on social media, his bat did not have any blood on it. It was actually pine tar.
I appreciate the compliment but have to confirm that it is not true. Just pine tar stick https://t.co/DTEVZmgZIZ
— Kevin Pillar (@KPILLAR4) June 10, 2021
Still, even if he wasn't bringing out his own blood to the batter's box, the nature of his toughness still won't ever be in question for Mets fans, and even baseball fans in general, as just one day after his injury, he apparently walked into the clubhouse asking if he was going to be in the lineup for the game.
My dawg @KPILLAR4 just walked in the clubhouse and goes “Am I in the lineup today or what?” What a WARRIOR! About to get my man the Rip Hamilton face mask for future competition. Lol KP is a LEGEND!
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) May 18, 2021
