Mariners’ James Paxton Has Sound Reason For Not Running From Bald Eagle

James Paxton saw no need to cut and run on Opening Day.

The Seattle Mariners starting pitcher explained why he didn’t bolt when a bald eagle landed on his back Thursday at Target Field prior to their game against the Minnesota Twins. He stood still, as the eagle approached him on its feet, and slightly bent over when it flew at him in order to stand at attention on his back during the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Paxton’s reason for his statuesque response is simple and sensible.

“I’m not gonna outrun an eagle,” Paxton told reporters after the game, per USA TODAY’s Scott Gleeson. “It was coming right for me, and I was like, ‘All right, the (bird trainer) is over there. And I’m not the eagle guy.’ But I guess this eagle was just confused, apparently the first time ever. I was just standing there trying not to panic.”

Paxton avoided injury in his first brush with an animal that doubles as the United States’ national emblem.

“(The eagle’s) talons, I don’t think, punctured me,” he said. “They were kind of sharp on my back. I don’t have any scratches, I don’t believe. That’s not the first time I’ve seen a bald eagle, but it was the first time I’ve had one try to land on me.”

There’s a first time for everything, and most of us don’t react so well when that moment comes. Perhaps that’s because he was mentally locked in ahead of his second start of the season. Either that or he was petrified.