Gifs and Reis: The indelible saviors of Cardinals Twitter
They don't want the credit, but I'm giving it to them anyway.
Every sports season and year is a chance to turn it all around. What didn’t happen last year could indeed occur this year, or at least that’s what sports fans think and dream about. It’s part of the allure of sports. But with every recycled calendar, a different change could be in store as well--one that may not entirely be pleasing yet is fitting.
Without making any promises, St. Louis Cardinals minor league expert Kyle Reis is giving the impression that 2022 could be his last season supplying countless gifs and daily knowledge about the minor league affiliates of the Cards. After several seasons of keeping Cardinal Nation informed about the future talent and also taking care of the asphalt being dumped on St. Louis roads, Reis could be taking a step back in 2023.
Or, he could just do all again and amaze us with his work ethic and wit, which makes the minor league scoops even more enticing. It’s not just a slash line reading or skill set description with Reis; what other sports mind will sip whiskey while shirtless in his home with a Ray Lankford jersey hanging behind him as he waxes poetically about the current fleet of baseball youth? The answer is no one. Just Kyle.
Keep in mind that he doesn’t really want credit. He reminds me of my good friend, Eric Moore, whose tombstone will surely read, “I didn’t do anything,” even if in reality he did so much as my best friend (that’s real work, ladies and gents.) Some heroic souls just want to dive headfirst into the game and report back what he/she/they saw. Reis doesn’t do it for followers, fame, or Michael Girsch’s phone number. He just adores baseball and cares more about the just out of high school young guns that will inhabit the game.
One could easily say Reis cares about minor leaguers more than Rob Manfred. It’s true… all of it.
Who else takes all the time on a daily basis to document swings and misses, dazzling defensive plays, and home runs from the 18-19-20-year-olds of the Cards system? We would only know Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn’s name if it weren’t for souls like Kyle showing us their at-bats, plays in the field, and growth from night to night. What exactly does he do? What you see below, but multiplied by 25-30 times per game.
Sure, fans could get an MiLB.TV package and watch all the games, but who the heck has time for that with the daily schedules and regular MLB team play? Kyle does. This wasn’t available years ago. Since the big leagues don’t care to dispel knowledge on the youth, regular superfans like Reis have taken up the charge. In the process, newer Cards fans like Cardinals Stats and Facts and KareemSSN are also putting out gifs, videos, and imagery of players in Springfield and Memphis.
Reis may not want credit, but he did start something, along with @cardinalsgifs. If Reis is the Tom Hagen of Cardinal Twitter, CGifs is Michael Corleone. Something signified by the Tony Soprano under a Cardinal hat in his avatar.
He is the one who brought gifs, essentially short few second bursts of video, to the forefront of social media, at least for St. Louis baseball fans. He is the one who binds angry and happy baseball fans together on any given night. Even before Cardinals Gifs started Birds on the Black, he was dispensing hilarious and retweeted gifs for years. As vile as Twitter can be, these two make it better. It’s the little things, folks.
These gents didn’t ask for this credit, but sometimes you need to heap praise on the people who just want to do cool stuff. For a guy who just spits out opinions and shoots from the hip, getting all the gifs and updates on burgeoning talents like Nolan Gorman and Jordan Hicks pays dividends. The reason we know about Brendan Donovan before he was even promoted this year is due to Gifs and Reis. Same goes for Tink Hence, Gordon Graceffo, Walker, and Winn.
But there’s tons of humor too, and not just baseball stats and imagery.
Reis has stated he still plans to gif games next season, and that makes me happy. Cardinals Gifs will certainly be around too, but that doesn’t make this post a false remembrance love song. Not by any means. It’s just me showing them some love for taking all the extra time and informing us. Sometimes, you need to honor the good eggs who take their love for a sport and give it to everybody.
Thanks, Gifs and Reis. You changed things, and kept Cards Twitter remarkably civil.
Go follow @cardinalsgifs, but follow and promptly unfollow Kyle. That’s how he prefers it.