As I’ve noted in the previous two entries, the makeup of this year’s Top 25 is the same as last year’s, with the order changing somewhat. The built-in advantage of having a name listed seems to have been much stronger than I imagined.
While you could rank up to 35 people on the Twitter form, only the top 20 votes counted. So when you see that the “ballots” number fluctuates, those are the number of ballots that the voter showed up in the top 20. Points were awarded from 25 points for first to 6 points for 20th. As we did last year, we’ll either take a pinned or recent Tweet to illustrate our Twitterer as well as their Twitter bio.
Number 25: tarawellman
Sports journalist. TV host & producer. Baseball lover. Cupcake connoisseur. Just assume it’s sarcasm. RTs ≠ endorsement. 1 John 4:4
So, he’s Jose Oquendo, but with a new title so he’s not *actually* replacing the Secret Weapon…? pic.twitter.com/Z0fkKguhcA
— Tara Wellman (@tarawellman) November 3, 2016
On Twitter since: January 2011
Number of Tweets: 50.5K
Following: 1,079
Followers: 1,611
Number of ballots: 17
First place votes: 0
Highest rank: 2nd
Total points: 218
2015 rank: 18
As you may have seen, I ranked Tara as the best podcaster in the Cardinal Blogger Awards and I enjoy talking with her every Sunday during the season on Gateway to Baseball Heaven. Tara’s very open about her beliefs about the Cardinals and is willing to engage most anyone, which sometimes backfires on her.
Number 24: MattSebek
Founder of @RookiesApp and Fortune 1000 Retail thought-leader for @wwt_inc.
Starting to really doubt this curse thing.
— Matt Sebek (@MattSebek) November 3, 2016
On Twitter since: July 2008
Number of Tweets: 40.3K
Following: 1,032
Followers: 19.4K
Number of ballots: 18
First place votes: 2
Highest rank: 1st
Total points: 237
2015 rank: 17
Matt often turns Twitter into a visual medium with pictures and tweaked images that make his point in subtle (and sometimes not as subtle) ways. A devoted St. Louisian, you’ll usually find Matt talking about not only the Cardinals but anything on the St. Louis scene, whether it’s sports, politics, or just the general scene. And the Rookies app is amazing.
Number 23: deckacards
Covering the St. Louis Cardinals for more than 10 years. Previously for About Sports @ http://About.com , Yahoo! Sports, & others (http://www.stlcardsnstuff.com )
Find a @Cubs fan and celebrate w them today, not because the Cubs won but because THEIR team finally won and THEIR anguish is over…for now
— Kevin Reynolds (@deckacards) November 3, 2016
On Twitter since: February 2009
Number of Tweets: 36.5K
Following: 1,400
Followers: 1,341
Number of ballots: 25
First place votes: 0
Highest rank: 8th
Total points: 272
2015 rank: 20
Kevin, one of the regular hosts of UCB Radio, isn’t on Twitter all the time, but he’s usually got something worth saying if he is hanging out there. Kevin’s pretty Cardinal and baseball centric, though a few other topics may pop up as well.
Number 22: TexasCardsFan1
I tweet about St. Louis Cardinals baseball 99% of time. (Followed by MLB Network, Brooks Kieshnick, Peter Bourjos & Lyle Spencer)
(Unfortunately, right now Scott’s account is set to private, so I can’t embed any of his Tweets.)
On Twitter since: November 2011
Number of Tweets: 68.1K
Following: 1,806
Followers: 2,559
Number of ballots: 19
First place votes: 1
Highest rank: 1st
Total points: 274
2015 rank: 15
If you like your takes salty and hot, Scott’s your man. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly, whether that’s on the field, in the dugout, or in the front office. There’s no such thing as a target he’ll pass up, but he’ll disagree with you in the good old baseball fashion of arguing ball and respect you (probably) afterwards.
Number 21: jstriebel22
I wear skinny jeans but still like sports. Art Director. Opinions are my own.
I made a wrong sports prediction. https://t.co/rc00biZyqv — Justin Striebel (@jstriebel22) September 16, 2016
On Twitter since: June 2009
Number of Tweets: 104K
Following: 2,609
Followers: 1,734
Number of ballots: 27
First place votes: 0
Highest rank: 5th
Total points: 294
2015 rank: 25
Justin’s the first one of our Top 25 to move up from last year, sliding up four spots. As expected from his bio, you’ll find him weighing in on such topics as sports logos, but he’s got a lot of good, interesting thoughts about the Cardinals as well.
All right, that’s the first section of our Top 25. Keep checking back for the rest!
