The recently-retired Dan Haren has taken to Twitter quite well. He doesn’t use it as an arm of a PR operation and doesn’t use it just to talk to athlete friends or celebrities. He uses it like a lot of us normal people do: to share random thoughts. Some interesting, some not. But he’s always honest and has taken to saying a lot of very revealing and self-effacing things, all while interacting with just about anyone.
His tweets today are a great example of this. From his exercise bike he’s sharing facts and insights about his baseball career. The sorts of things that normally wait for a tell-all book or an in-depth interview. Haren, however, is eliminating the middle man:
There's was atleast 3-4 times I thought the team plane was gonna crash.
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
I went into almost every start the last few years thinking... How the hell am I gonna get these guys out
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
I had to take Imodium most days I pitched to plug myself up. 💩
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
My only superstition was to make sure I had 2 glasses of wine the night before I pitched. This ties in with the Imodium,
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
My threat to retire didn't quite work last offseason
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
His whole feed is here. There are a handful more observations like that and, I presume, he’ll offer more at other times based on how well these are being received.
Haren really seems to be embracing retirement and loosening up. It’s so cool to hear what ballplayers have to say without the filter of PR and the media.