Josh Hamilton Joins Twitter: An In-Depth Over-Analysis

There have been many fake accounts; impostors, charlatans, and fame-seekers bearing the name of Josh Hamilton on Twitter. Now, finally, to silence the frauds and the shames, the Texas Rangers outfielder and 2010 American League MVP and all-around 2012 MLB terror Josh Hamilton has joined the universe of Twitter. Or, as some care to cheesily say, the Twitterverse. Sure, Hamilton is the hottest player in baseball and we could talk about that until we’re blue in the face (and we probably have, is your face blue? Quick, get a mirror and check!), but for now let’s look at something meaningless!

Twitter is a great way, if not the only way, for professional athletes to connect with their fans. Hamilton instantly becomes one of the most high-profiled MLB players on Twitter. Since his third tweet that announced that he was himself (at 12:19pm central), his follower count grew to over 45,000 at the time of this article posting (11:40pm central).

So, since he has made himself available to the public, let’s over-react and over-analyze, shall we?

The handle – @thejoshhamilton. Simple enough, no dilly-dally or fanfare like Jose Bautista (@JoeyBats19) or Brandon Phillips (@DatDudeBP). But, wait, THE Josh Hamilton? Does Josh Hamilton talk about himself in the third person? If someone asks him what his identity is on Twitter, his response will be “I’m the Josh Hamilton”. That “the” is an extremely arrogant “the”. I personally don’t know any other Josh Hamiltons, but I imagine there are hundreds, if not thousands of other Josh Hamiltons. To exclude the existence of the rest of them is short-sighted. That’s a short-sighted “the”.

The picture – In no way is this a picture that would make one think this is a real account (it is, in fact, a real account confirmed by multiple sources). The picture is the first picture that you would find if you searched for “Josh Hamilton” on commons.wikimedia.org. Anyone could put this picture as their profile picture. It’s from a Texas Rangers game in August of 2008, and Hamilton is wearing a jersey that the Rangers no longer even use. Perhaps he really liked the jersey and is mourning its drop from the current rotation of Rangers laundry? Perhaps he was just being lazy? Perhaps he thinks he looks 10 pounds lighter in this photo than a current one?

The profile – “Official Twitter Account for Josh Hamilton. Follower of Jesus. Husband to Katie Hamilton. Father. MLB Player for the Texas Rangers. Hebrews 4:12” Apart from “Account” and “Player” being unnecessarily capitalized, nothing to see here. He’s still married to Katie – good. He’s still a father – good (though no mention that he has four daughters, which we can just chalk up to a character limit). Hebrews 4:12 reads “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

The tweets – Tweet #1 was to his wife’s company @ScriptureArtLLC with the concise message “This is my official acct.” Tweet #2 was a retweet of ESPN quoting Josh Hamilton; sort of a circular reference. Tweet #3 was the official announcement that he is on the scene. Tweet #4 was a congratulations to Rangers broadcaster Eric Nadel. Tweet #5 was a request for prayers for a young boy. Nowhere in these tweets did Josh Hamilton tell us how to hit 18 home runs in 34 games. What a disappointment!

The follows – The first person Hamilton followed was Richard C. Clark, owner of @Trademark Properties. A quick Google search reveals that Clark was key in Hamilton’s return to baseball from sobriety, hiring him as a construction foreman in 2006 as a stepping stone to his return to baseball in 2007. Of more interest, however, is that Hamiltons third person to follow was C.J. Wilson, former Rangers, and current Los Angeles Angels pitcher. Hamilton followed Wilson before any of his current Rangers teammates on Twitter. Clearly, Hamilton is planning to follow (get it?) Wilson to Los Angeles in the offseason as a free agent. That’s the only conclusion that can be made from this.

Time will only tell what kind of a twitterer Josh Hamilton will be. It would be above and beyond expectations if he can produce an account similar to that of Oakland A’s pitcher, Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32). As long as he doesn’t become the next Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco), he’ll be just fine.