clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Kurt Abbott Hero

Hopefully some of you remember Kurt Abbott from the 1997 World Series Championship team.

Kurt has a new job now:

"There's a fire on the first floor and the flames are starting to come up the stairs," Becca Baker pleaded with 911 dispatchers Thursday. "Please send someone quickly."

Already at the front door of her Palm City condo, Kurt Abbott, the Florida Marlins World Series champ turned sheriff's deputy, didn't think twice about rushing in with Deputy Ed Brochu.
"I turned my back to the front door and took a deep breath," said the 36-year-old Abbott, a former infielder who gave up baseball in 2003 after a serious heel injury.

The two men entered the home, and reached the endangered family.

"I put her arms around my neck and the other girl held on," Abbott said.

The deputies rescued Baker, her mother and stepfather, who had had used a garden hose to battle the blaze that likely began with a water heater in a storage cubby under the stairs. No one was seriously injured.

Well done Kurt.  Very well done.