You have to watch this Minor Leaguer's unreal escape from being tagged out to believe it

Look at this image:

Birmingham Barons batter Courtney Hawkins had just grounded out to Chattanooga Lookouts pitcher Ryan Eades. With a runner on second, Hawkins was trying to coax Eades into a rundown back toward home plate so that his teammate might get to third. Either way, Hawkins probably knew he'd be tagged out. Look at how close they were! There was no coming back from this. But then, the unthinkable happened ...

Eades tried to tag him out, dropped the ball and Hawkins -- who started walking back to the dugout thinking he was out -- realized the ball was loose and raced safely to first. Watch the video below for the full experience:

He did seem to stray far out of the baseline, but he didn't do so while trying to avoid the tag (and that rule is under the umpire's discretion). Although the Barons lost the game, 8-3, Hawkins' escape now ranks as one of the greatest of all-time -- up there with Andy Dufresne, Harry Houdini and MacGyver with his paper clip in any terrible situation ever.