The Indians told this fan he could throw out a first pitch if he got 100 million retweets
On Sunday, an Indians fan named Jack Lipscomb asked the team on Twitter if he could throw out a first pitch before one of its 81 home games during the 2017 season. More precisely, he asked how many retweets he would have to accumulate for the Indians to let him throw a first pitch. The team replied succinctly: 100 million.
Alright so the bar has been set now I just need everyone's help, please retweet this so I can fulfill my dream?? pic.twitter.com/HLgOvexLQr
— Jack Lipscomb (@Young_Seneca) January 22, 2017
As of Tuesday afternoon, Jack's tweet had nearly 200,000 retweets. An impressive feat, no doubt, but far from his goal.
According to its "Company Facts" page, Twitter has a bit over 300 million active users, so Jack would need his tweet to be retweeted by approximately one-third of Twitter users. That is a tall order. The most retweeted tweet of all time has around 3.3 million, and a bit of complex math tells us that's just 3.3 percent of the number Jack needs -- so yeah, the Indians are pretty confident that ...
Jack's not going to get to 100M. No first pitch.
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) January 24, 2017
But! He IS at 176K & we have a great day in store for him this yr! https://t.co/jYfI9MClDB
But Jack believes he can do it. In fact, word of Jack's effort reached the Cavaliers, who tweeted a very relevant photo as their contribution to the conversation:
does Tito's RT count? ? pic.twitter.com/xMSesVmu7u
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 26, 2017
"I've always wanted to throw out the first pitch," Jack, a life-long Indians fan, told Cut4. "It's been a goal since I was little."
While he probably won't hit the 100 million retweets he needs to throw out a first pitch -- even hitting 175,000 has been "surreal," Jack said -- the Indians have promised to do something special for him regardless. Whatever happens, not a bad result for his gambit.
"I figured I've seen some people on Twitter ask people for dumber things ... so I took a chance."
Additional reporting by Daniel Frankel / MLB.com.
