For a while there, it seemed like this series wasn’t going to be written. The new ownership of Twitter had some…interesting…decisions made between the completion of our eighth year of voting and now, when I am able to write the posts that go with the results. There was one evening, as everyone started piling into Discord (and you can hit me up for a link to our Cardinal Podcast server over there if you want), that it looked like writing a post about Twitter was going to be real dated. Things settled down, though, and here we are.
I always hope that this is going to continue to grow and every year so far it has. More and more people share their opinions on who they think the best Twitter follows are. You can tell that we keep pushing that total higher and higher.
| Year | Ballots |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 26 |
| 2016 | 42 |
| 2017 | 43 |
| 2018 | 116 |
| 2019 | 138 |
| 2020 | 143 |
| 2021 | 190 |
| 2022 | 219 |
We are almost 10 times as big as we were when this thing started. Which is all due to those that have shared it and spent the time humoring this little project of mine. So I thank you muchly!
This year, the ballot checked in at 162 names. My general approach is to take last year’s ballot, remove those that didn’t make it onto 20% of ballots, add in the write-ins from the prior year and a few accounts I personally found in the past year, then get some input from others on anyone I might have missed. Even with 162 names, though, there are still those that people think should have been included. So let’s take a look at those that folks believed should have gotten their time in the spotlight.
| Place | Handle | Points | Max | Min | # Ballots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 224 | jonmorgan50 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 222 | LexieMaddux | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| 222 | AlexaDatt | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| 221 | mlb_trades | 7 | 7 | 7 | 1 |
Mr. Morgan has apparently deactivated his account, at least for a while, and Lexie is going to follow her father to the Texas fanbase. At least Alexa will be around for a while after completing her first season as the studio host/sideline reporter for Bally Sports Midwest.
| Place | Handle | Points | Max | Min | # Ballots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 215 | Step_f82 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| 215 | seeingredpod | 8 | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| 215 | O_T_Lee | 8 | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| 215 | JWFRBW | 8 | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| 215 | cardinalscharts | 8 | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| 215 | BradenBrown24 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 1 |
I figure that Bernie and Will’s podcast would have probably been a little higher up had it been listed on the ballot. Some interesting things out there on the Cardinalscharts account as well.
| Place | Handle | Points | Max | Min | # Ballots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 175 | woodbat28 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | TheRedbirdWay | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | TheInsiderKevin | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | TalkingCards | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | STLRedbirdsGang | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | stlgirlinlex | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | STLCardsNews | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | sirpsychooosexy | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | Raabbird | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | p_mcpheeters | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | NChill17 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | MU4124 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | mrmgwilson | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | MozeliakRBW | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | McMarc9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | libbylovescards | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | kello9980 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | KeithSpeaks14 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | johnjf125 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | JFerg52 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | InsidetheBird1 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | FWBluesFan | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | frontofficefailure | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | DrF117Nighthawk | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | Dev_z15 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | CassofDunshire | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | carlyTHFC | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | CardsPlayerDev | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | CardsNation13 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | ByRobertMurray | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | BrendenSTL | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | bradkehl | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | Bluenatics | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | BenGodar | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | adamhayden22 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 175 | _haylsbells | 10 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
This is our extensive collection of folks that were written in just one time but they maxed out their possible points in the process. How I didn’t have Ben Godar on the main ballot is beyond me as I always enjoy his work on the podcasts and in the Twitter medium. You’ve got the official player development account in there, which is handy for some minor league info. Cass of Dunshire sounds like a proper British duchess in my mind. John Fleming does some great work over at St. Louis Bullpen and MozeliakRBW is the son half of the father/son podcast Playing Catch that just got started. Tom Orf always has excellent stats and research and NChill was probably hurt by having to swap names around a bit the last couple of years.
| Place | Handle | Points | Max | Min | # Ballots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 174 | RichardMcGill89 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| 173 | bt_newberry | 16 | 9 | 7 | 2 |
| 172 | grobot05 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 2 |
| 169 | NoahsS****yArk | 19 | 10 | 9 | 2 |
| 169 | kburdtweets | 19 | 10 | 9 | 2 |
| 169 | CardinalsReek | 19 | 10 | 9 | 2 |
| 163 | UncleCharlie50 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 2 |
| 163 | STL_Stats_Facts | 20 | 10 | 10 | 2 |
| 163 | SheckieZx | 20 | 10 | 10 | 2 |
| 163 | MastheAce25 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 2 |
| 163 | ktlikesbaseball | 20 | 10 | 10 | 2 |
| 163 | emilyann1031 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 2 |
| 162 | jimedmondsisms | 28 | 10 | 8 | 3 |
| 161 | emozeliak | 47 | 10 | 8 | 5 |
Mr. McGill is the father half of that aforementioned podcast. You’ll find Blake Newberry writing over at VEB and The Cardinal Nation and it was good to get to meet him this past summer. Grobot is, of course, most famous for fooling people at the trade deadline. Adam Wainwright’s account should have been on the main ballot as well, especially for his old man walks. Z Ed illustrates my puns and agrees with me most of the time in regards to Star Wars, so he should be MUCH higher. If you can get more than two or three write-in votes you are doing something right, my gothic friend.
That’ll do it for the write-ins. We’ll get into the ballot proper next time out!
