Baseball Crank
Part of a series on Chapo Trap House. [View Related Entries]
About
Baseball Crank is an image of a screaming baseball that is popularly used in photoshops on Twitter, particularly Weird Twitter.
Origin
The Baseball Crank image is the avatar of conservative lawyer, writer, and Twitter personality Dan McLaughlin, whose handle is baseballcrank.[1] Towards the end of April 2016, the image drew the fascination of the comedy/politics podcast Chapo Trap House , who described the image as emblematic of the Republican #NeverTrump community's anguish.[2] According to a Storify[3] of Baseball Crank tweets from Bob George (@Odd_Hack), the first tweeted photoshop of the baseball crank came on April 27th, 2016, from @BenghaziExpert,[4] who inserted the picture over Ted Cruz and Heidi Cruz talking to Sean Hannity.
Spread
In the following days, the members of Chapo Trap House and its fans began photoshopping the Baseball Crank image into dozens of famous photographs and works of art such at The Shining, Vermeer's "Girl With The Pearl Earring," Van Gogh's "Starry Night," and many more. The spread of the photoshops drew media coverage from The Daily Dot[5] and Law360.[6] McLaughlin, evidently not a fan of the meme, blocks anyone who tweets Baseball Crank photoshops at him.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Twitter – @baseballcrank
[2] Soundcloud – Chapo Trap House Episode 8
[3] Storify – Baseball Crank
[4] Twitter – @BenghaziCrank
[5] The Daily Dot – How the Baseball Crank became a weird symbol of the GOP #NeverTrump meltdown
[6] Law360 – Sidley Austin Atty's Anti-Trump Crusade Draws Fans, Mockery
