JUPITER, Fla. — The St. Louis Cardinals first-round pick Brett Wallace, whose bat may be ready for the big leagues before he finishes his first full season as a professional, launched a shot in batting practice Thursday that would be difficult to duplicate — for him or any other hitter.

It was a carnival shot. A game of H-O-R-S-E for baseball. As if somebody handed Michael Jordan and Larry Bird a few bats and told them to recreate their famous commercial in cleats.

And, though it sounded at first like an urban legend, it’s apparently true.

The other day, Wallace was taking cuts against BP fastballs from coach Joe Pettini. It’s standard for there to be players or coaches or former players (i.e., Larry Walker) out in the field gathering up the balls that are peppered around the outfield. And Wallace has been doing a lot of peppering this spring. The 13th-overall pick in the most recent June draft has put on a few shows with his smooth left-handed swing and explosive crack. He’s a natural line-drive hitter with more power to come.

And so it was Thursday that he was ripping away at pitches from Pettini and minor-league manager Gaylen Pitts was tooling around in a golf cart out in the outfield, scooping up the baseballs and popping them in the bucket he had on the back of the cart.

According to witnesses, and later confirmed by Wallace, the third baseman mashed a ball to deep center field. Pitts was driving the cart in the same direction of the blast, hugging the warning track as he motored to the next place to pick up a few baseballs. He didn’t show any signs of knowing a ball was headed his way — on the fly.

Nor did he stop when the ball landed … right in the bucket.

“I think so,” Wallace said. “I guess that’s where it went.”

Hey, saved Pitts from making a special trip.

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