Whit Merrifield/Brady Singer: a ship manifesto in social media and videos
There were two really fun storylines for Royals fans to follow this season: Salvador Perez hitting all the home runs, and the budding frenemyship between two-time All-Star 2B Whit Merrifield and second-year starting pitcher Brady Singer. The former is fairly self-explanatory, but I thought I’d retrace the timeline of the latter for my own enjoyment and the edification of anyone who might be interested.
When the Royals drafted Brady Singer out of the University of Florida with the 18th overall pick in the 2018 draft he was most famous for an incident that took place during game three of the Super Regional with Wake Forest. With a trip to the College World Series on the line, Brady was on the mound with a narrow 1-0 lead when the rain, which had already plagued the series with delays, began pouring in the second inning. The ensuing rain delay meant Brady's start was going to be cut short, and he was not happy about it. At all. He made this very clear in a full-on tantrum in front of the cameras on ESPN. (Don't worry, this story had a happy ending for Brady and his Gator teammates; after the rain, they came back to win this game and, eventually, the College World Series. Still, rain is his nemesis and this is his origin story.)
After Brady was drafted, this video got a little boost as it spread to people who don't follow college baseball but do follow the MLB draft. I was among those who discovered it at that time. Then it lay largely dormant in the back of my mind as Brady worked his way up through high-A, then AA, and even when he made the leap to the major league level in the shortened 2020 season. Then, as the 2021 season approached, Whit Merrifield, who led the league twice in hits and once in stolen bases, attacked a new challenge with the same intensity.
Things started small. Alec Lewis, Royals beat writer for The Athletic, tweeted that the weather smelled like baseball in Kansas City, and Whit Merrifield-still in Arizona wrapping up spring training- replied thusly: “As long as it’s not raining Alec. We all know how much
BSinger51 hates the rain.” Lest anyone miss the reference, he swiftly followed this with a quote tweet of a clip of the famous video with a little commentary of his own: “It’s the left handed, failed glove spike that gets me.”
“Forecast looks solid!! We’ll be good,” Brady responded brightly to the first tweet, ignoring the second.
On April 10th, the Royals' game against the White Sox was rained out. Whit debuted this gloriously low-resolution screencap of Brady's mid-tantrum face in reply:
The subsequent series against the Blue Jays included another rain delay, which yielded the same laconic response, and an incident that got Whit to really wax lyrical in his roasting on the radio.Whit Merrifield likes to joke that Royals pitcher Brady Singer “doesn't have a lot going on between his ears.” Merrifield claims the young hurler only thinks about what he's gonna eat, arm care, and fastballs and sliders, which may have been the case during a recent series against the Toronto Blue Jays, in which Merrifield says Singer became confused during the playing of the Canadian National Anthem. […] “Did I miss something, did we…, did something…, are we paying some sort of tribute to somebody? What was that song?” Merrifield recalls Singer asking. “We tell him it's the playing of the Canadian anthem and he was all, ‘Oh sorry, I guess we don't get many Canadians down in Florida.‘”
“Gonna be electric hearing you sing it
Bsinger51,” Whit tweeted. “You live and you learn that’s all,” Brady replied gamely.
Brady was less even-keeled when he managed to get ejected from a May 5 game from which he had already been pulled, not a common occurrence. His manager and pitching coach had already been ejected when they finally lost their shit after a wide variety of disputed calls by the notorious Angel Hernandez, but Brady managed to keep it together long enough to get one last out and turn the ball over to the acting manager before he made his feelings known. Whit raced in to help escort his feisty buddy off the field before things escalated any further.
PitchingNinja, who normally analyzes pitching mechanics, posted a funny split-screen video snippet comparing Brady's “Getting Pissed Off” mechanics from this incident to the famous rain video.
Next, Whit debuted a new Brady reaction picture, this one from when he was forced out of a game by a comebacker that hit him in the heel:
“Anyone know how to delete someones Twitter?” Brady tweeted, finally goaded into showing annoyance. Naturally, Whit used this picture again when the Royals suffered yet another rain delay.
It wasn't all gloom and doom, though. When Adalberto Mondesi came off the injured list, Whit celebrated with this picture of a jubilant Brady celebrating a Royals walk-off on Salute to the Negro Leagues Day:
“The only one I actually agree with!” Brady responded approvingly.
When Brady almost yeeted a ball into center field, however, Whit made his own highlight clip by filming a screen with his camera adding, “Shouldn’t of [sic] had that popcorn
Bsinger51” Whit has never been a hugely prolific tweeter and like half of his tweets are about teasing Brady at this point.
When Brady proposed to his girlfriend, it was raining, because of course it was. Like I said, rain is his nemesis. It was a narrative requirement. He posted his sopping wet engagement photos on Instagram with a positive spin: “Definitely the best rain delay I’ve ever been in.”
Whit came through with the full embarrassing backstory of his misadventures, though, because of course he did. ‘“He proposes to his girlfriend, now fiancé, takes photos inside and now they're going outside to take pictures,” says Merrifield. “Obviously it's raining pretty hard and as they're going to set up to take pictures, he slips and falls into the pool at Big Cedar Lodge. Phone in his pocket, wallet in his pocket, tries to get out, sits on the ledge, slips and falls further into the pool. He's just kind of sitting there in his nice clothes, looking at the photographer. This is only gonna happen to him, there's no one else that this is going to happen to.”’
Yet another rain delay elicited a new meme image of Brady, one where Carlos Santana (no, not that one) appears to be petting him like a cat:
Brady probably is a cat. It would explain the aversion to water.
After the All-Star break,
Royals tweeted, “When you've been away in Denver all week and finally get to see Brady again.”
Okay, clearly Brady is a cat.
In honor of Country Music Night at The K, Whit, who must have connections, unearthed this incredible blast from the past:
“And y’all wonder why he has a black eye…” Brady replied. (It was a stray ball that deflected off the L-screen during the Home Run Derby, in case you were also wondering.)
When Brady's birthday rolled around on August 4, Whit wished him a personalized one: “May your day be filled with Tebow highlights and 2 seamers, young one.”
Whit gave a short tour of his house as part of an ad for CommunityAmerica Credit Union that revealed, among other things, that his kitchen was well-stocked with wine and beer and virtually nothing else. This prompted Brady to strike first for once, replying, ”I guess that’s one way to hydrate…”
"Cute," Whit promptly smacked him down with an appropriate photo:
”Here's another way to hydrate,” the official
Royals account chimed in when it shared a video clip in which Whit, lurking in the background, dumped a water bottle down Brady's back as he was attempting to hold his postgame press conference.
“Whit, fuck,” he said, before quickly apologizing to the assembled press for swearing. ”Why are you back there?” he added as Whit, cackling, exited stage left. Bally Sports Kansas City tweeted a longer version of the video where you see Whit getting into position conspiratorially and more of Brady's reaction afterwards.
Ten days later, Brady went out for revenge, dumping a water bottle down Whit's back while he was giving a postgame interview.
”Oh, look at that! Was that Brady?” Joel Goldberg asked, as Whit manfully suppressed a reaction.
“That was,” Whit said ruefully. ”Nice job, Brady.”
”Is that allowed?”
”Ah-he'll hear about it," Whit said, rather ominously. “That was nice, though. Good for him.”
Rain delay in Chicago? Whit has a photo for that:
Rain delay in Kansas City? Photo:
Brady Singer pitched a great game on September 5 and got two coolers of ice water emptied on him: one, as is custom, by Salvy, and then a second sneak attack by Whit, who also placed the cooler on his head. Joel asked him afterwards about their relationship as he dabbed at his dripping face with a towel:
“We're having a blast,” Brady said.
The grand finale of the season approached when Whit began to tease to the media that an embarrassing video was going to be appearing on the Royals social media in the next few days and that he did not want to talk about it so don't ask him about it. “We will be talking about it!” Brady chimed in.
The video turned out to be another ad for CommunityAmerica, this time pitting Whit against Brady in a little ‘closest to the pin’ golfing contest hosted at The K. Spoiler alert: Brady absolutely smoked him.
“No questions at this time. Please respect my privacy,” Whit tweeted.
One final rain delay of the year, one final photo:
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comment(s)
When the Royals drafted Brady Singer out of the University of Florida with the 18th overall pick in the 2018 draft he was most famous for an incident that took place during game three of the Super Regional with Wake Forest. With a trip to the College World Series on the line, Brady was on the mound with a narrow 1-0 lead when the rain, which had already plagued the series with delays, began pouring in the second inning. The ensuing rain delay meant Brady's start was going to be cut short, and he was not happy about it. At all. He made this very clear in a full-on tantrum in front of the cameras on ESPN. (Don't worry, this story had a happy ending for Brady and his Gator teammates; after the rain, they came back to win this game and, eventually, the College World Series. Still, rain is his nemesis and this is his origin story.)
After Brady was drafted, this video got a little boost as it spread to people who don't follow college baseball but do follow the MLB draft. I was among those who discovered it at that time. Then it lay largely dormant in the back of my mind as Brady worked his way up through high-A, then AA, and even when he made the leap to the major league level in the shortened 2020 season. Then, as the 2021 season approached, Whit Merrifield, who led the league twice in hits and once in stolen bases, attacked a new challenge with the same intensity.
Things started small. Alec Lewis, Royals beat writer for The Athletic, tweeted that the weather smelled like baseball in Kansas City, and Whit Merrifield-still in Arizona wrapping up spring training- replied thusly: “As long as it’s not raining Alec. We all know how much
BSinger51 hates the rain.” Lest anyone miss the reference, he swiftly followed this with a quote tweet of a clip of the famous video with a little commentary of his own: “It’s the left handed, failed glove spike that gets me.”
“Forecast looks solid!! We’ll be good,” Brady responded brightly to the first tweet, ignoring the second.
On April 10th, the Royals' game against the White Sox was rained out. Whit debuted this gloriously low-resolution screencap of Brady's mid-tantrum face in reply:
The subsequent series against the Blue Jays included another rain delay, which yielded the same laconic response, and an incident that got Whit to really wax lyrical in his roasting on the radio.Whit Merrifield likes to joke that Royals pitcher Brady Singer “doesn't have a lot going on between his ears.” Merrifield claims the young hurler only thinks about what he's gonna eat, arm care, and fastballs and sliders, which may have been the case during a recent series against the Toronto Blue Jays, in which Merrifield says Singer became confused during the playing of the Canadian National Anthem. […] “Did I miss something, did we…, did something…, are we paying some sort of tribute to somebody? What was that song?” Merrifield recalls Singer asking. “We tell him it's the playing of the Canadian anthem and he was all, ‘Oh sorry, I guess we don't get many Canadians down in Florida.‘”
“Gonna be electric hearing you sing it
Bsinger51,” Whit tweeted. “You live and you learn that’s all,” Brady replied gamely.
Brady was less even-keeled when he managed to get ejected from a May 5 game from which he had already been pulled, not a common occurrence. His manager and pitching coach had already been ejected when they finally lost their shit after a wide variety of disputed calls by the notorious Angel Hernandez, but Brady managed to keep it together long enough to get one last out and turn the ball over to the acting manager before he made his feelings known. Whit raced in to help escort his feisty buddy off the field before things escalated any further.
PitchingNinja, who normally analyzes pitching mechanics, posted a funny split-screen video snippet comparing Brady's “Getting Pissed Off” mechanics from this incident to the famous rain video.
Next, Whit debuted a new Brady reaction picture, this one from when he was forced out of a game by a comebacker that hit him in the heel:
“Anyone know how to delete someones Twitter?” Brady tweeted, finally goaded into showing annoyance. Naturally, Whit used this picture again when the Royals suffered yet another rain delay.
It wasn't all gloom and doom, though. When Adalberto Mondesi came off the injured list, Whit celebrated with this picture of a jubilant Brady celebrating a Royals walk-off on Salute to the Negro Leagues Day:
“The only one I actually agree with!” Brady responded approvingly.
When Brady almost yeeted a ball into center field, however, Whit made his own highlight clip by filming a screen with his camera adding, “Shouldn’t of [sic] had that popcorn
Bsinger51” Whit has never been a hugely prolific tweeter and like half of his tweets are about teasing Brady at this point.
When Brady proposed to his girlfriend, it was raining, because of course it was. Like I said, rain is his nemesis. It was a narrative requirement. He posted his sopping wet engagement photos on Instagram with a positive spin: “Definitely the best rain delay I’ve ever been in.”
Whit came through with the full embarrassing backstory of his misadventures, though, because of course he did. ‘“He proposes to his girlfriend, now fiancé, takes photos inside and now they're going outside to take pictures,” says Merrifield. “Obviously it's raining pretty hard and as they're going to set up to take pictures, he slips and falls into the pool at Big Cedar Lodge. Phone in his pocket, wallet in his pocket, tries to get out, sits on the ledge, slips and falls further into the pool. He's just kind of sitting there in his nice clothes, looking at the photographer. This is only gonna happen to him, there's no one else that this is going to happen to.”’
Yet another rain delay elicited a new meme image of Brady, one where Carlos Santana (no, not that one) appears to be petting him like a cat:
Brady probably is a cat. It would explain the aversion to water.
After the All-Star break,
Royals tweeted, “When you've been away in Denver all week and finally get to see Brady again.”
Okay, clearly Brady is a cat.
In honor of Country Music Night at The K, Whit, who must have connections, unearthed this incredible blast from the past:
“And y’all wonder why he has a black eye…” Brady replied. (It was a stray ball that deflected off the L-screen during the Home Run Derby, in case you were also wondering.)
When Brady's birthday rolled around on August 4, Whit wished him a personalized one: “May your day be filled with Tebow highlights and 2 seamers, young one.”
Whit gave a short tour of his house as part of an ad for CommunityAmerica Credit Union that revealed, among other things, that his kitchen was well-stocked with wine and beer and virtually nothing else. This prompted Brady to strike first for once, replying, ”I guess that’s one way to hydrate…”
"Cute," Whit promptly smacked him down with an appropriate photo:
”Here's another way to hydrate,” the official
Royals account chimed in when it shared a video clip in which Whit, lurking in the background, dumped a water bottle down Brady's back as he was attempting to hold his postgame press conference.
“Whit, fuck,” he said, before quickly apologizing to the assembled press for swearing. ”Why are you back there?” he added as Whit, cackling, exited stage left. Bally Sports Kansas City tweeted a longer version of the video where you see Whit getting into position conspiratorially and more of Brady's reaction afterwards.
Ten days later, Brady went out for revenge, dumping a water bottle down Whit's back while he was giving a postgame interview.
Click to view”Oh, look at that! Was that Brady?” Joel Goldberg asked, as Whit manfully suppressed a reaction.
“That was,” Whit said ruefully. ”Nice job, Brady.”
”Is that allowed?”
”Ah-he'll hear about it," Whit said, rather ominously. “That was nice, though. Good for him.”
Rain delay in Chicago? Whit has a photo for that:
Rain delay in Kansas City? Photo:
Brady Singer pitched a great game on September 5 and got two coolers of ice water emptied on him: one, as is custom, by Salvy, and then a second sneak attack by Whit, who also placed the cooler on his head. Joel asked him afterwards about their relationship as he dabbed at his dripping face with a towel:
“We're having a blast,” Brady said.
The grand finale of the season approached when Whit began to tease to the media that an embarrassing video was going to be appearing on the Royals social media in the next few days and that he did not want to talk about it so don't ask him about it. “We will be talking about it!” Brady chimed in.
The video turned out to be another ad for CommunityAmerica, this time pitting Whit against Brady in a little ‘closest to the pin’ golfing contest hosted at The K. Spoiler alert: Brady absolutely smoked him.
“No questions at this time. Please respect my privacy,” Whit tweeted.
One final rain delay of the year, one final photo:
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comment(s)