Fake National Review story about imaginary non-binary Blue Jays catcher dupes people on social media

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Rich Lowry is the Editor-In-Chief of National Review. On Monday, he penned an article about Toronto Blue Jays catcher Brady Deeker, a non-binary athlete who the team called up from the minor leagues to start for the big-league club.

One problem: Brady Deeker doesn’t exist. He’s not a real baseball player, not even a real person. Lowry made him up to prove a point.

The article presents as real news, but is clearly satire. I saw the story circulating and realized after the second sentence that it couldn’t be real.

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Kevin Gausman #34 of the Toronto Blue Jays gets taken out of the game by manager John Schneider in a break against the Minnesota Twins during the fifth inning in their MLB game at the Rogers Centre on June 11, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  (Mark Blinch/Getty Images)

Lowry "quotes" Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins as saying, "The Blue Jays organization is delighted to make baseball history and be at the forefront of LGBTQ2S+ progress. Now every day can be Pride Day at the ballpark."

Some of you may think that doesn’t sound all that crazy. And, to be honest, it’s not completely absurd. Though, no professional sports GM would say that.

He further states that Atkins promised to bat the imaginary catcher cleanup, despite being a career .207 minor league hitter.

Then, Lowry "quotes" Jays manager John Schneider who "says," "Alejandro [Kirk, the team’s starting catcher] is a key guy for us, but, of course, he is totally committed to supporting the LGBT+ community by DHing now and occasionally backing up Deeker — assuming Brady is okay with that."

Again, clearly not