Baseball Home Openers: Social Media’s Best Shots [PICS]

Baseball Home Openers: Social Media’s Best Shots [PICS]
by Sam Laird on Mashable

1. A head of the game

The New York Mets tweeted this photo of a fan with a Shea Stadium-inspired piece of headwear.

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2. MLB mosaic

Major League Baseball tweeted this collection of shots celebrating the first day of home openers.

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3. Busch Stadium

The St. Louis Cardinals shared this early-morning Instagram of their home ballpark, Busch Stadium.

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4. Two feet of hotdog

Dallas TV reporter Joe Trahan tweeted this shot of "The Boomstick," a 24-inch hotdog now available at the Texas Rangers' home stadium.

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5. Buster's back

The San Francisco Giants shared this filtered photo of star player Buster Posey, who is returning this season from a major injury.

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6. Meet the "Big Kid Dog"

The Los Angeles Dodgers tweeted this photo of the new "Big Kid Dog," which they say "is topped with gooey Mac and Cheese and covered in Fritos."

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7. Center of attention

The New York Yankees shared this photo of manager Joe Girardi being mobbed in the dugout by reporters before Opening Day.

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8. Meme alert?

Twitter user @zoowithroy posted this shot of a really excited Miami Marlins fan.

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9. Wrigley before sunrise

The Chicago Cubs shared this great shot of iconic Wrigley Field in the pre-dawn hours of Opening Day.

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10. Jazzy Jeff in the house

Twitter user @philaphillies was excited to see DJ Jazzy Jeff on hand for Philadelphia's opening day festivities.

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11. Phillies pizza

Twitter user @rynomite57 shared this appetizing pic of a Phillies-inspired pizza.

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12. The start of a storied career

Legendary former manager Tommy Lasorda tweeted this memento from his first Opening Day in charge of the Los Angeles Dodgers, way back in 1977.

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13. Meet the lineup

The Tampa Bay Rays tweeted out a shot of their Opening Day lineup.

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14. Pretty in Pittsburgh

Twitter user @j_rossini shared this great shot of PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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15. Verlander and veterans

Star pitcher Justin Verlander posted this photo to Twitter, thanking a military veterans support group for coming out to see his Detroit Tigers.

The social web lit up with photos recently as another summer at the ballpark got underway.

For fans and players, Opening Day (or night) is always a special occasion — familiar sights and sounds return, and hope for a successful season springs anew. Friday’s game between the Mariners and Athletics in Seattle marked the last of 30 home openers for Major League Baseball teams.

This year, Opening Day festivities were documented on social networks such as Twitter and Instagram perhaps more than ever before. Teams, fans and players all posted shots celebrating the beginning of the 2012 baseball season in a variety of ways.

What were the best shots from Opening Day? Pixable.com is a New York City startup that sorts the most popular and timely of the millions of photos posted to social networks daily. The company provided Mashable with access to feeds showing which Opening Day baseball photos were gaining the most buzz and best capturing the magic of a new season.

Scroll through the gallery above to see a sampling of this young baseball season’s best shots.

Which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments.





Source: Mashable.com

How Major League Baseball Stacks up on Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

How Major League Baseball Stacks up on Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]
April 4, 2012 By Sam Laird on Mashable

Spring is in the air and Major League Baseball season is officially underway. Hot dogs, beer and lazy days at the ballpark are on tap for the next several months. But how do the game’s players, teams and leagues stack up on the social web?

The social media agency Banyan Branch spent the offseason from October through March collecting Twitter and Facebook data to see who dominates baseball’s digital conversation.

Not surprisingly, the agency found that the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox — high profile teams in major East Coast markets — rank highest in online popularity. The Yankees have nearly 6 million followers and fans on Facebook and Twitter, while the BoSox come in second with almost 4 million. The Philadelphia Phillies, however, have the most Twitter followers with aronnd 680,000.

Which teams are most active on Twitter? The San Francisco Giants lead the league with 18,000 all-time tweets. The Seattle Mariners come in second with 16,000 posts and the Toronto Blue Jays third at 13,000.

Among free agents this offseason, megastar Albert Pujols commanded the most online buzz with 35,000 Twitter mentions. Prince Fielder, Jose Reyes and the Japanese MLB newcomer Yu Darvish also inspired a ton of tweets.

Yankee Nick Swisher is Banyan Branch’s “Most Valuable Tweeter” with nearly 1.5 million followers. Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson has him beat by a longshot for actual tweeting, though. He comes in at 13,000 posts, compared to Swisher’s 1,200.

Check out the infographic below for the full picture of baseball’s social media landscape.

Who are your favorite baseball Twitter follows? Let us know in the comments.

Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=652260‬


Sorce of article: Mashable