Miller: From MLB’s wildest day to the Astros’ scandal: The most meme-worthy moments ever for all 30 teams
From Sam Miller at ESPN.com on April 2, 2020:
A lot had to go right for the Astros’ trash can-banging scandal to become MLB’s most massive social media story in modern history. Most importantly, the Astros’ signal was loud, obvious and audible on broadcasts, enabling film breakdowns, data collection, myriad memes and the clear, conclusive, totally unambiguous understanding we had of the scope of it all. Had the scheme been, say, the third-base coach hearing the sign on an earpiece and relaying “fastball” by placing his hand on his belt — same brazen scurrilousness, just quieter — the Astros’ scheme is probably never a social-media phenomenon. Too much doubt, not enough bang.
It is, then, our luck that the Astros’ scheme came in this era, when every game is broadcast on television, when the broadcasts are extraordinarily well miked, when the energy online can remix official news into more entertaining analysis, and when the players themselves are mingling among us in the shared social space.
Every team has something in its history that would make for a perfect online moment.
Read the full article here: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28942521/the-most-meme-worthy-moments-ever-all-30-mlb-teams
Originally published: April 2, 2020. Last Updated: April 2, 2020.