A comprehensive, chronological look back at Travis Kelce’s online baseball fandom

Before Kelce was the Chiefs’ star tight end and Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, he was a college student who tweeted about baseball — a lot.

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A comprehensive, chronological look back at Travis Kelce’s online baseball fandom
Before Kelce was the Chiefs’ star tight end and Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, he was a college student who tweeted about baseball — a lot
Jordan Shusterman
Jordan Shusterman
Senior MLB analyst
Mon, Feb 19, 2024, 6:31 PM GMT+1·20 min read

1

As the Kansas City Chiefs have ascended to full-blown dynasty status over the past decade, it has become commonplace to hear references to quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ roots as an amateur baseball star and, of course, as the son of a guy who pitched in the big leagues for more than a decade.

But in the wake of another Chiefs Super Bowl victory, I would like to explore a different Chiefs superstar’s history with my preferred sport – the one dating Taylor Swift, in case you missed that news.

In the months following Kansas City’s championship last year, Travis Kelce threw out ceremonial first pitches both for his hometown Guardians on Opening Day (he spiked it) and at Kauffman Stadium in June, with Andy Reid and some of his teammates looking on (a clean strike to Bobby Witt Jr.).

That’s a pretty standard sports crossover, but the other thing we learned recently about Kelce, besides the fact that he has the most famous girlfriend in the world, is that his younger self used to post some outrageously funny stuff on Twitter as a goofball college athlete with too much time on his hands.

So buckle up and join me in the Twitter time machine for a comprehensive, chronological review of Kelce’s online baseball fandom.

Here we have our first instance of Kelce acknowledging our beloved sport in the earliest days of his now-famed timeline. As a redshirt freshman at the University of Cincinnati, it seems Kelce spent this Sunday afternoon watching the Bearcats’ baseball team take on Youngstown State. Phil Klein, Youngstown State’s starting pitcher that day, went on to become just the 11th player in school history to reach MLB. I don’t know if Travis knew he was watching a future big leaguer that day, but he did do some scouting:

Based on the box score, it seems Kelce was talking about 5-foot-4 leadoff hitter Jamel Scott. More importantly, we have Kelce publicly yearning for the days when he was balling out on a different field.

April 5, 2010: Let the games begin
On Opening Day 2010, Kelce’s beloved big-league team from his childhood growing up in Cleveland Heights was coming off a miserable, 97-loss campaign, their worst finish since 1991. Expectations were low entering the season under new manager Manny Acta, but every fan base has hope on Opening Day, right?

On this day, Mark Buehrle categorically carved Cleveland’s lineup across seven scoreless frames en route to an easy 6-0 White Sox victory. Just hours into the season, the 20-year-old Kelce had already given up on his squad and shared his disappointment with the world.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift was in the midst of her debut concert tour promoting her second studio album, “Fearless.” A week earlier, she performed in Cincinnati.

When he wasn’t tweeting about his hometown team or the local Reds, Kelce regularly referenced Yankees games. No huge surprise here considering that New York was fresh off ring No. 27, but it became clear over the course of the season that Kelce did, in fact, care about the Bronx Bombers a decent amount. In this case, the game was indeed “goin down to the wire!” Tied 4-4 headed to the eighth, the Yankees scored late to put it away at Fenway, including a ninth-inning home run from Robinson Cano.

A month into the season, things weren’t looking much better for Cleveland than they did on Opening Day, and Kelce wanted to make that clear. Spoiler alert: Cleveland did not pick it up, and the Twins did not slow down, going on to win the AL Central rather handily.

Indeed, it “hurts to be a Cleveland fan” — and to think, this was posted two months before LeBron James announced he was signing with the Heat. Tough times in The Land.

It’s unclear if Kelce was in attendance at Great American Ball Park for this clash of Ohio clubs, but he wanted to make sure we all knew which side of the state he hails from. Unfortunately, it was another L for Cleveland despite two homers from Shin-Soo Choo.

May 23, 2010: The Subway Series
It was Mets-Yankees at Citi Field on Sunday Night Baseball, and the Mets were up 6-0 through five innings, thanks to two Jason Bay homers off CC Sabathia. Travis chimed in:

Kelce’s discontent over a poor Yankees performance seemed to hint at an affinity for the team. More troubling, however, was his characterization of the Mets as “good as hell.” This was a nice win on national TV, sure, but it brought the Mets to 22-23 on the year. And after a strong April, they were pretty blah the rest of the way, finishing 79-83 and fourth in the NL East.

This was a straight-up miss from Kelce from an analytical perspective, but we’ll forgive him.

(And yes: I recommend bookmarking that tweet in case the Yankees are getting smacked and/or the Mets are good as hell at some point in the future.)

You might’ve seen this tweet by now, as it has received far more engagement than any of the others covered in this deep dive. On its face, we have here a future Pro Football Hall of Famer suggesting in college that his best sport might actually be something else. That’s notable in and of itself.

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East scores 211, Dame wins All-Star MVP
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Daytona 500 postponed to Monday
Pitino melts down after latest loss
All-Star Weekend winners and losers
Yahoo Sports
A comprehensive, chronological look back at Travis Kelce’s online baseball fandom
Before Kelce was the Chiefs’ star tight end and Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, he was a college student who tweeted about baseball — a lot
Jordan Shusterman
Jordan Shusterman
Senior MLB analyst
Mon, Feb 19, 2024, 6:31 PM GMT+1·20 min read

1

As the Kansas City Chiefs have ascended to full-blown dynasty status over the past decade, it has become commonplace to hear references to quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ roots as an amateur baseball star and, of course, as the son of a guy who pitched in the big leagues for more than a decade.

But in the wake of another Chiefs Super Bowl victory, I would like to explore a different Chiefs superstar’s history with my preferred sport – the one dating Taylor Swift, in case you missed that news.

In the months following Kansas City’s championship last year, Travis Kelce threw out ceremonial first pitches both for his hometown Guardians on Opening Day (he spiked it) and at Kauffman Stadium in June, with Andy Reid and some of his teammates looking on (a clean strike to Bobby Witt Jr.).

That’s a pretty standard sports crossover, but the other thing we learned recently about Kelce, besides the fact that he has the most famous girlfriend in the world, is that his younger self used to post some outrageously funny stuff on Twitter as a goofball college athlete with too much time on his hands.

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So buckle up and join me in the Twitter time machine for a comprehensive, chronological review of Kelce’s online baseball fandom.

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March 7, 2010: Travis misses baseball

Here we have our first instance of Kelce acknowledging our beloved sport in the earliest days of his now-famed timeline. As a redshirt freshman at the University of Cincinnati, it seems Kelce spent this Sunday afternoon watching the Bearcats’ baseball team take on Youngstown State. Phil Klein, Youngstown State’s starting pitcher that day, went on to become just the 11th player in school history to reach MLB. I don’t know if Travis knew he was watching a future big leaguer that day, but he did do some scouting:

Based on the box score, it seems Kelce was talking about 5-foot-4 leadoff hitter Jamel Scott. More importantly, we have Kelce publicly yearning for the days when he was balling out on a different field.

April 5, 2010: Let the games begin
On Opening Day 2010, Kelce’s beloved big-league team from his childhood growing up in Cleveland Heights was coming off a miserable, 97-loss campaign, their worst finish since 1991. Expectations were low entering the season under new manager Manny Acta, but every fan base has hope on Opening Day, right?

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Wrong:

On this day, Mark Buehrle categorically carved Cleveland’s lineup across seven scoreless frames en route to an easy 6-0 White Sox victory. Just hours into the season, the 20-year-old Kelce had already given up on his squad and shared his disappointment with the world.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift was in the midst of her debut concert tour promoting her second studio album, “Fearless.” A week earlier, she performed in Cincinnati.

April 6, 2010: New York, New York

When he wasn’t tweeting about his hometown team or the local Reds, Kelce regularly referenced Yankees games. No huge surprise here considering that New York was fresh off ring No. 27, but it became clear over the course of the season that Kelce did, in fact, care about the Bronx Bombers a decent amount. In this case, the game was indeed “goin down to the wire!” Tied 4-4 headed to the eighth, the Yankees scored late to put it away at Fenway, including a ninth-inning home run from Robinson Cano.

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Shortly after the final out, Kelce shared some unfortunate news:

Ouch!

May 10, 2010: Off-day motivation

A month into the season, things weren’t looking much better for Cleveland than they did on Opening Day, and Kelce wanted to make that clear. Spoiler alert: Cleveland did not pick it up, and the Twins did not slow down, going on to win the AL Central rather handily.

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Indeed, it “hurts to be a Cleveland fan” — and to think, this was posted two months before LeBron James announced he was signing with the Heat. Tough times in The Land.

May 21, 2010: The Ohio Cup

It’s unclear if Kelce was in attendance at Great American Ball Park for this clash of Ohio clubs, but he wanted to make sure we all knew which side of the state he hails from. Unfortunately, it was another L for Cleveland despite two homers from Shin-Soo Choo.

May 23, 2010: The Subway Series
It was Mets-Yankees at Citi Field on Sunday Night Baseball, and the Mets were up 6-0 through five innings, thanks to two Jason Bay homers off CC Sabathia. Travis chimed in:

Kelce’s discontent over a poor Yankees performance seemed to hint at an affinity for the team. More troubling, however, was his characterization of the Mets as “good as hell.” This was a nice win on national TV, sure, but it brought the Mets to 22-23 on the year. And after a strong April, they were pretty blah the rest of the way, finishing 79-83 and fourth in the NL East.

ADVERTISEMENT

This was a straight-up miss from Kelce from an analytical perspective, but we’ll forgive him.

(And yes: I recommend bookmarking that tweet in case the Yankees are getting smacked and/or the Mets are good as hell at some point in the future.)

May 28, 2010: His best sport?!

You might’ve seen this tweet by now, as it has received far more engagement than any of the others covered in this deep dive. On its face, we have here a future Pro Football Hall of Famer suggesting in college that his best sport might actually be something else. That’s notable in and of itself.

But the context of Kelce’s declaration is crucial for understanding his particular affinity for baseball that summer. Kelce had just lost his football scholarship and been suspended for a year due to a failed drug test for marijuana. Amidst a cloudy future outlook on the football field, he sought another outlet for the athletic gifts that made him a three-sport star at Cleveland Heights High School. He linked up with a summer collegiate team run through the nearby Champions Baseball Academy (which also boasts Cincinnati natives Brent Suter and Luke Maile as MLB alumni) and spent the next few months reliving his glory days on the diamond.

I won’t include all of them here, but I found 24 instances of Kelce tweeting about his games, from flaunting multi-hit performances to lamenting long bus rides to expressions of gratitude for his family coming to watch him play. Here’s a sampling:

As we now know, this was the last time Kelce would play baseball competitively, as he eventually got his football career back on track. But we’ll always have this tremendously wholesome and downright hilarious running diary of what seemed to be an awfully successful summer of hardball.

Now let’s get back to Kelce the baseball fan.

June 7, 2010: Well, actually …
Stephen Strasburg’s MLB debut was one of the more memorable introductions in recent memory. More than 40,000 packed into Nationals Park for a Tuesday night game against Pittsburgh to witness the phenom take the mound for the first time as a big leaguer.