Rob Delaney, Twitter hero to many, conquered a new frontier Tuesday. Or at least he tried to.
Starting at noon, Delaney took over Major League Baseball’s main Twitter account for seven hours. If you’ve read anything Delaney’s posted on Twitter, you’d guess that the move was somewhat of a risk for MLB.
It didn’t really pay off, at least as far as follower numbers go. At the time the experiment started, @MLB had 2,880,723 followers. By 4.25pm ET it had just 4,200 more.
Delaney seems to be a fan of baseball. He far prefers it to football, for one thing, and recently sang the national anthem at a Los Angeles Dodgers game. He’s knowledgeable about the sport, and, as one of the community’s most prominent comedians, he tried to liven up MLB’s presence a bit.
But “tried” is the operative word here. Trolling with trivia questions, as with much of the rest of the takeover, came off as a little dull. The jokes weren’t as outlandish as you might expect from Delaney. Granted, he was presumably asked to steer clear of sex and fart jokes, so it was a somewhat sanitized version of his usual spiel.
We expected more from you, Delaney. But we’ll still follow anything you write.
Here’s a glimpse at Delaney’s stint as @MLB’s social media editor:
Comparing baseball to football is like comparing apples to oranges. Tasty, shiny apples to rotten, bug filled oranges. – @robdelaney
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2013
Hint: No one. The Boston Red Sox won that year. I know because I watched Lost.
Time for @robdelaney‘s TRIVIA TIME! Q: Who did the Kansas City Royals beat to win the 2004 World Series?
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2013
Did you know you can rearrange the letters in “BASEBALL” to spell “TERRIFIC!”? – @robdelaney
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2013
To be clear, I’m not Rob Delaney, the Angels’ pitcher. He is a very good pitcher and nice person probably. I’m not. – @robdelaney
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2013
Baseballs were originally made of ham. MLB switched design after President Taft ate 14 balls during the 1971 World Series. – @robdelaney
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2013
How come when Matt Kemp takes his uniform off & gives it to a fan he’s a “hero,” but when I do it I “get tazed”? – @robdelaney
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2013
Baseball Fact: The nine “innings” in a baseball game correspond to the nine months of pregnancy probably. – @robdelaney
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2013
Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Tom Crabtree (@tcrabtree83) was married to a pillowcase filled with baseballs from 1991-2007. – @robdelaney
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2013
He gave a shoutout to Brandon McCarthy, an Arizona Diamondback known for his wit on Twitter.
Brandon McCarthy (@bmccarthy32) isn’t just a great pitcher. He’s also a handsome man. An extraordinarily handsome man. – @robdelaney
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2013
Photo via Sam Atilano/YouTube