The beer is on ice, the grounds crews are hard at work and hot dogs and spring are in the air. That could only mean one thing—baseball season is here. Despite the fact there is no longer one official “opening day”—the league’s first games were played two weeks ago in Australia—we were curious to see if social still celebrated the unofficial Opening Day on March 31 (after all, baseball fans can be pretty nostalgic).
Using the uberVU via HootSuite platform, we took a deep dive into social media mentions around all things baseball on March 31 and filled out our very own social scorecard.
On Deck
Fun facts that didn’t quite make our infographic.
National Anthem
807 mentions
307 RTs
Hot Topics from the uberVU via HootSuite conversation map: “Brian McKnight,” “mom”
Singer Brian McKnight drew a lot of attention in social fo belting out the National Anthem at the Detroit Tigers’ home opener. McKnight might be the professional, but the mom of Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen stole the star-spangled show. Yesterday marked the third time she has kicked off a game in Pittsburgh.
* Search terms included “anthem” with either “opening day” or #openingday
First Ball / Pitch
2,785 mentions
1.4K RTs
Hot Topics from the uberVU via HootSuite conversation map: “booed”, “Citi Field”, “Mets”
The Mets dominated the first ball conversation thanks to some classic “Bronx cheers” in Queens as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio threw out the first pitch. Mets fans are notorious for booing political figures—plus, de Blasio is a known Red Sox fan.
* Search terms included “opening day” with either “first ball” or “first pitch”
Does Social Media Love or Hate a Winner?
The verdict is still out, but last year’s winner sure is getting a lot of attention. Defending champs, the Boston Red Sox, topped all of the 30 MLB teams in mentions, RTs, Likes and Shares.
Opening Day vs. Kind of Opening Day
The 2014 season technically kicked off two weeks ago when the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks faced off in Sydney, Australia on March 22. Did the teams generate more social buzz down under or back home?
First Game in Australia (3/22) vs. Opening Day (3/31)
Arizona Diamondbacks
March 22: 28K mentions, 14K RTs, 131 Likes
March 31: 8.3K mentions, 3.5K RTs, 127 Likes
Los Angeles Dodgers
March 22: 73K mentions, 27K RTs, 199 Likes
March 31: 79K mentions, 27K RTs, 359 Likes
The Arizona Diamondbacks saw a huge surge in mentions from its first game in Australia, generating 239% more mentions than they did on Opening Day. The numbers remained mostly the same for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who saw a slight increase with 9.5% more mentions on March 31.
So while the teams saw different reactions in social, the real question Major League Baseball should ask is if its missing out on creating a large, concentrated push in social media by abandoning the classic Opening Day?
What can social data do for your company? Take a test drive of uberVU via HootSuite.