About

The Juiced Ball Era Was Crazy is a catchphrase referring to a series of baseball video edits that parody the late-2010s era of baseball in which the balls allegedly had a different composition than usual that allowed for more home runs and offense. In the parodies, users will splice a shot of a pitch clearly not resulting in a home run with a different shot of a ball leaving the ballpark. These posts feature variations on the caption, "The juiced ball era was crazy."

Origin

In the late 2010s, Major League Baseball saw a significant uptick in home runs. Many players and coaches believed this was due to a change in the composition of the baseball that made it bouncier and more aerodynamic than it had been in previous seasons.^[1] On September 26th, 2019, Twitter user @TigersJUK posted a video of a Dodgers player hitting a home run after making what appears to be weak contact with the ball, commenting that it was due to the game's "juiced balls."

The juiced ball era will be talked about in the same way as the steroid era. pic.twitter.com/BxdZFFJaxR

— Jed (@TigersJUK) September 26, 2019

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged there had been a change in the ball in those years and that the issue would be addressed. In 2022, some players believed that baseball had overcorrected on the issue, resulting in a "dead ball" that decreased the offensive output of teams.^[2]

On April 22nd, 2022, Twitter user @PlayoffTanaka_^[3] posted the first parody video about the "juiced ball" era, showing a clip of Yankees player Gary Sanchez hitting the ball with a weak swing then cutting to a clip of the ball leaving the ballpark. The tweet gained over 460 retweets and 10,000 likes in 10 days (shown below).

The juiced ball era was crazy as shit, like I’m still wondering how this ball got out pic.twitter.com/HJspdaCqep

— Gabe (@PlayoffTanaka_) April 22, 2022

Spread

Hours after Twitter user @PlayoffTanaka_ posted their video on April 22nd, 2022, Twitter user @TPAFTheKing posted a parody that showed a batter bunting to hit a home run, gaining over 100 retweets and 190 likes in 10 days (shown below, top). On April 25th, @PlayoffTanaka_ posted a similar video, though this time it was to parody the offensive prowess of Angels outfielder Mike Trout. The tweet gained over 2,200 retweets and 30,000 likes in one week (shown below, bottom).

Fr pic.twitter.com/IlzzlJENT9

— TPAF (7-10)(41-30) (@TPAFTheKing) April 22, 2022

Mike Trout absolutely RIDICULOUS. How is this even possible man pic.twitter.com/uGwaQWEH8L

— Gabe (@PlayoffTanaka_) April 26, 2022

Over the following week, multiple other users created versions of the meme. On April 26th, @JunkWaxHeroes spliced a clip of Alex Rodriguez getting hit with a baseball with a home run, gaining 18 retweets and 219 likes in one week (shown below, top). On May 1st, user @FoolishBB spliced a wild pitch with a home run, gaining over 1,700 retweets and 27,000 likes in two days (shown below, bottom).

Haven't seen such a juiced ball since pic.twitter.com/6ldT4BwEVb

— Junk Wax Heroes (@JunkWaxHeroes) April 26, 2022

people forget how insane the juiced ball was pic.twitter.com/5R4zzzWWu7

— Foolish Baseball (@FoolishBB) May 2, 2022

Various Examples

Remember when this happened? I miss the juiced ball pic.twitter.com/uoujSaKEsG

— Brandon (@DaWink33) May 2, 2022

People complaining about the dead ball forget what the juiced ball era was like. Remember this? pic.twitter.com/6WAtf2UKXL

— Parker Kirk (@Parker_OTJ) May 2, 2022

Juiced ball era was crazy 😱😱 pic.twitter.com/MYeE6ozIY3

— hugo (@BatemanFanAcc) May 2, 2022

the juiced ball era was so insane pic.twitter.com/Q7JZNlQQrK

— they call me max (Hou Chronicle contributor) (@SteveNashPyt) May 2, 2022

Search Interest

External References