Phillips surprises young Rays fans by running bases with them

Many of us have seen it after a professional baseball game on a Sunday, whether in the Minor Leagues or the Major Leagues: Dozens of kids running the bases, relishing the opportunity to run the same basepaths that the pros run.

Well, there was one rather large kid running the bases after the Rays beat the Orioles, 8-0, at Tropicana Field on Sunday: Rays outfielder Brett Phillips.

As if running the bases on a Major League diamond could get any better, how about adding a big leaguer running alongside you? It made for a day those kids in St. Petersburg will never forget.

Phillips quoted a tweet that included a video of the trip around the bases, with a post reading: "What!?! Kids always run the bases free on Sunday, everyone knows that!"

Everyone knows that, but what you don't see every day is one of the Major Leaguers running with them.

We knew Brett Phillips was fun -- see his Twitter avatar, which is a digitized version of him running the bases with his arm spread like wings after delivering a walk-off hit in Game 4 of the 2020 World Series against the Dodgers.

But he just got even more fun. And in doing so, he probably became the favorite baseball player of a bunch of kids who can always say they got to run the bases with a big league ballplayer.