Earlier today I republished a story about Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Toronto Blue Jays bringing on a non-binary catcher from the minor leagues onto their team, making him the automatic starter in a diversity hire while also showing apparent allegiance to the LGTBQIA+ community during Pride month.
Well, apparently that whole story published by the National Review was 100% FAKE.
The National Review literally put out a piece that was completely “satirical,” because they wanted to help a “prove a point” about something. You can see their parody piece embedded below.
Below their piece is an article by Fox News someone sent me that confirms that it was fake, and how tons of people got duped by this after it went viral very fast. But Fox’s Outkick was just as condescending and said that it was “clearly” and “obviously” satirical.
“Obviously?” I don’t watch MLB or professional sports, so how would someone like me “clearly” know I am being screwed with?!
It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.
Proverbs 10:23
Indeed so, and how befitting of a verse?
So, my apologies to any readers who read this story and thought it was real. Lest anyone think I’m “Mr. Perfect,” clearly I am not.
Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.
Proverbs 19:1
I may not always be right, but I also try to have integrity in what I do; and stuff like this REALLY burns me. I am absolutely so sick and tired of all this “satire” nonsense! Does anyone know how or want to tell the truth anymore?
The only thing I learned here today is I will make sure not to regard the National Review with any real level of seriousness anymore.
Welcome to the new paradigm: we have to spend hours fact-checking a three-minute article to make sure every sentence is accurate. And I say hours because in order to find the proper information you’ll have dig deep to find answers, since everything is buried and shadow-banned, and everything is pay-to-play anymore, so only the deep pockets get shown first.
And then people wonder why we have fact-checkers. I hate fact-checkers, I loathe thought police; but this exemplifies why they exist, especially when millions were bamboozled into thinking this was real.
The following is the report by National Review:
In a surprise move, the Toronto Blue Jays have called up minor-league catcher Brady Deeker shortly after the backstop became the first professional baseball player to identify as nonbinary.
Deeker’s promotion comes after only seven games at Triple-A and two frustrating seasons at Double-A when the catcher struggled to hit, batting a collective .207.
At a press conference, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said,
The Blue Jays organization is delighted to make baseball history and be at the forefront of LGBTQ2S+ progress. Now every day can be Pride Day at the ballpark.
The move was met with near-universal acclaim. The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement saying that Deeker is “the Jackie Robinson of the LGBTQ+ community. We are proud of them.”
Atkins pledged to put Deeker in the starting lineup immediately, batting fourth.
That will displace the current starting catcher, Alejandro Kirk, the dynamic player beloved by Blue Jays fans who last year hit .285 with 14 homers.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider said,
Alejandro is a key guy for us, but, of course, he is totally committed to supporting the LGBT+ community by DHing now and occasionally backing up Deeker — assuming Brady is okay with that.
A scout for a rival organization who asked for anonymity to protect his livelihood said of Deeker,
I don’t care what gender he [sic] is, he’s [sic] never been able to handle a fastball or identify a slider. To say he’s [sic] not going to provide protection to anyone in front of him [sic] is an understatement. I mean, Vlad Guerrero is not going to see another strike all year. I hope the Blue Jays plan to merchandise a lot of rainbow jerseys because otherwise this makes no sense.
Asked about such skepticism, Atkins said, “This organization doesn’t have time for hate.”
Deeker was drafted out of the University of Miami as a highly touted prospect who has struggled to live up to the initial billing. Some doubted that, at age 27, Decker would ever make the big leagues. Then, everything changed this season with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Toronto’s AA affiliate. Deeker began, according to the catcher’s account, to doubt the gender binary after watching TikTok videos on long road trips back and forth to Eastern League cities. Before an away game against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies about two weeks ago, Deeker came out as nonbinary in a viral Instagram post.
The reaction was instantaneous. Deeker immediately scored an endorsement deal with the equipment-maker Rawlings for a branded catcher’s mitt. Other offers have flooded in.
(In a recent podcast interview, Deeker said, “I don’t want to create any misunderstandings — I’m, you know, still attracted to women and will keep dating my girlfriend,” who is a former University of Miami cheerleader.)
At the team’s press conference, Atkins said that Deeker’s locker in the Blue Jays locker room will be designated as gender-neutral, and one urinal and stall in the men’s room will be marked off as “all-gender,” explaining, “We just think that’s the right thing to do.”
The current Blue Jays backup catcher, Tyler Heineman, will be designated for assignment.
It is what it is. I wouldn’t want my roster spot to stand in the way of history.
Heineman said.
An ESPN 30 for 30 documentary tentatively titled The Catcher Who Was Neither: The Brady Deeker Story is scheduled for release in the fall.
The following is Fox News article refuting the article and explaining the situation, written by Dan Zaksheske at Outkick, a sports outlet and subsidiary of Fox:
Rich Lowry is the Editor-In-Chief of National Review. On Monday, he penned an article about Toronto Blue Jays catcher Brady Deeker, a non-binary athlete who the team called up from the minor leagues to start for the big-league club.
One problem: Brady Deeker doesn’t exist. He’s not a real baseball player, not even a real person. Lowry made him up to prove a point.
The article presents as real news, but is clearly satire. I saw the story circulating and realized after the second sentence that it couldn’t be real.
Lowry “quotes” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins as saying, “The Blue Jays organization is delighted to make baseball history and be at the forefront of LGBTQ2S+ progress. Now every day can be Pride Day at the ballpark.”
Some of you may think that doesn’t sound all that crazy. And, to be honest, it’s not completely absurd. Though, no professional sports GM would say that.
He further states that Atkins promised to bat the imaginary catcher cleanup, despite being a career .207 minor league hitter.
Then, Lowry “quotes” Jays manager John Schneider who “says,” “Alejandro [Kirk, the team’s starting catcher] is a key guy for us, but, of course, he is totally committed to supporting the LGBT+ community by DHing now and occasionally backing up Deeker — assuming Brady is okay with that.”
Again, clearly not something an MLB manager would do or say.
To close the article, Lowry writes that ESPN is already working on a documentary on the fictional catcher.
“An ESPN30 for 30 documentary tentatively titled The Catcher Who Was Neither: The Brady Deeker Storyis scheduled for release in the fall.”
Obvious satire from Lowry that he says he wrote as a commentary on the team’s decision to designate pitcher Anthony Bass for assignment.
“I wanted to spoof the Blue Jays for their ridiculous decision to DFA Anthony Bass for his sincere beliefs,” Lowry exclusively told OutKick. “Parody was the only way do it justice because we are in absurd times.
“Even though it was written to be clearly satire, it’s really not that far removed from being plausible.”
He’s right. It’s not that far from being believable. Which is exactly what makes something great satire.
Unfortunately, some people believed it was TOO realistic. So realistic, in fact, that they reposted it as truth.
One such person is conservative pundit Ben Shapiro. He sent a tweet to his 5.8 million followers.
Fifteen minutes later, Shapiro sent a follow-up tweet claiming he realized the Blue Jays piece was satirical.
More than likely, someone alerted Shapiro to this fact. But, not before over 750k people saw his first tweet, believing the story to be real.
Shapiro can’t use the excuse that he didn’t actually read the story and just saw the headline, either. He noted that Deeker hit .207 in the minor leagues.
Since Deeker doesn’t exist, the only place to get that figure is from Lowry’s fake news story.
It’s a reminder that in today’s world, be careful what you believe.
Sometimes unbelievable things turn out to be real. Sometimes believable things turn out to not be real.
Stay safe out there on that Internet, my friends.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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I’m not a sports fan but I enjoyed baseball somewhat…NOT ANYMORE!!!
This story isn’t real.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/fake-national-review-story-non-binary-toronto-blue-jays-catcher
Good grief. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll update this post. I seriously hate getting lied to. I don’t watch baseball so I would not know.
Well, now that we are aware that it was satirical, we can recognize the humorous elements, I suppose. And if the Babylon Bee had written the article, we would have been aware and chuckled here and there.. Because they are pretty genius with satire. But written by the National Review, of course we would think it was a serious article. Especially with all the current social and political trends. What was written in that article IS our new norm.
The people at the Babylon Bee, The Onion, or whatever, who sit around and write fake news stories are losers who have zero skills in anything, so they must resort to writing nonsense posts. We all know its satire because it took years of people falling for it for it to finally resonate. They get no forgiveness or passability with me. I hate being played like a fool.
Theirs maybe.
‘Their’ new normal… I mean. Sorry they burned you, Jacob. I know the feeling, young man. 1 Corinthians 1 – 3 KJB helps, though it still isn’t fun in the present. Hebrews 12, too….and the Lord mixes encouragement & exalting joy with his exhorting words, his stinging reproofs, and sober, solemn truths there.
No problem, brother. Keep up the great work you’re doing. It’s much appreciated!