The boys of summer are getting ready to swing into action. It’s springtime and that means a man’s fancy turns to . . . baseball. Opening day for the Major League Baseball season is April 1st, and no, we’re not fooling.
On the other hand, if it’s your objective to stay informed on the goings on within the game, learn a little bit of baseball history, follow a favorite player, or simply enjoy some good-natured baseball-related fun, these are the most entertaining baseball followers on Twitter.
Baseball’s Most Entertaining Twitter Accounts
Graig Kreindler (@GraigKreindler)
“Craig Kreindler” by craigkreindler.com is licensed under CC BY 3.0
An interesting and informative site, Kreindler is an artist who captures baseball’s stars and lesser-known participants by painting them on canvas. There’s one thing that all of his subjects share – they’re dead.
As his Twitter bio notes,
“Graig paints dead baseball players. Though not OF them dead. Not that there’s anything wrong with the dead. In fact, Graig loves the Dead.”
Graig Kreindler (@GraigKreindler)
He mixes portraits of legendary stars like Al Kaline, Eddie Collins, and Dizzy Dean with a painting of José Méndez with Almendares in 1910, one of the biggest stars of the Cuban League during the dead-ball era.
Personal favorite – a painting of the Iron Horse – Yankee’s first baseman Lou Gehrig – alongside the Marx Brothers, Groucho, Chico, and Harpo.
If you’re a fan of free stuff, Kreindler is constantly offering prizes for his work to his Twitter followers.
Andrew McCutchen (@TheCUTCH22)
Watching the 2013 NL MVP at the ballpark, it’s evident he embraces everything there is to love about playing the game. Take a tour through the Philadelphia Phillies outfielder’s Twitter feed and you’ll quickly learn he’s even more entertaining than you thought.
McCutchen performs skits as Uncle Larry, who he describes as his “alter ego since 2/12/20. Uncle Larry resembles a character pulled right out of the movie Barbershop.
McCutchen also displays a profound respect for the game’s history on his feed. He even personally relays info on Negro League stars from a bygone era.
Rob Friedman (@pitchingninja)
The Pitching Ninja breaks down the minutiae of major league hurlers through video clips. He’ll slip in a little bit of comedy in his clips and dazzle you as much with his knowledge of big-league pitchers as the pitchers he highlights do by the way they can make a baseball dance with movement.
For instance, did you know that last season, only eight right-handed starting pitchers got more swinging strikes with their slider against right-handed batters than Randy Dobnak of the Minnesota Twins? Friedman knew that, and he shared data like this with his followers.
Old Hoss Radbourn(e) (@OldHossRadbourn)
“Old Hoss Radbourn” by baseballhall.org is licensed under CC BY 3.0
If you find the Captain Andrew Luck Twitter based on a fictional U.S. Civil War soldier who told the story of the former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck’s career through Civil War jargon, then Old Hoss Radbourn(e) is right up your alley.
Sharing a name with a late 1800s pitching sensation who won 60 games for Providence in 1884, Old Hoss Radbourn(e) is an irreverent look at today’s culture (mostly baseball) from the perspective of a 19th-century ballplayer.
Baseball Quotes (@baseballquotes)
The title is self-explanatory. This site recalls famous and not-so-famous quotable moments from the game’s history. “Quoting America’s Pastime in 280 characters or less,” is their Twitter tagline.
For example, former big league backstop Bob Uecker’s explanation of the preferred method for receiving a knuckleball pitcher.
“The best way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until the ball stops rolling and then to pick it up,”
Uecker
Or this unique summation of the sport from Hall of Fame baseball writer Jim Murray:
“Baseball is a game where a curve is an optical illusion, a screwball can be a pitch or a person, stealing is legal and you can spit anywhere you like except in the umpire’s eye or on the ball.”
Jim Murray
