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'The Freeze' shocked the baseball world by losing a race

Mark Townsend
Yahoo Sports Contributor

One week ago “The Freeze” was the best-kept secret in baseball. Since then his fame has exploded like it was shot out of a cannon, which is fitting considering that’s exactly how he runs.

Now though, we’re left to ponder whether his legacy has been damaged beyond repair. Because for all the things he is — fast, well-dressed and full of charisma — he’s not unbeatable.

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It’s true. The mighty Freeze has fallen. We saw it with our own eyes. In fact, he was smoked, at least in relative terms, by an able Braves fan during Friday’s second-inning race at SunTrust Park.

While it’s true The Freeze also lost on opening day, this one was different. First of all, he had an excuse then because he couldn’t see out of his goggles. But the world was watching now, and the world was quite honestly stunned when his second and even third gears weren’t enough to overcome his opponent.

Of course, by rule, the fan had a 200-foot head start. But that’s barely mattered to date. So credit the fan for running and never losing steam. Perhaps most importantly, he didn’t get overconfident and start his celebration early. That was the unfortunate mistake of The Freeze’s opponent last Friday, but it was that mistake that opened the door for us to learn who The Freeze is and what he’s all about.

The Freeze races by an opponent during a game earlier this season. (Getty Images)
The Freeze races by an opponent during a game earlier this season. (Getty Images)

According to FloTrack, his name is Nigel Talton and he’s among the fastest human beings in the world. The accomplished sprinter has competed favorably against Usain Bolt and is aiming to enter the 2018 world indoor championships in England.

Based on what we’ve seen, we wouldn’t bet against him doing very well. But we also hope he sticks around baseball for awhile. He’s added a new element to in-game entertainment, and hopefully opened the door to more imaginative ideas moving forward.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!