Someecards is a pop culture humor website founded in 2009 that is best known for its greeting cards featuring sarcastic, dry, dark or crude one-liner jokes submitted by users. While Someecards covers a wide variety of topics in its viral cards, it has developed a special niche in using humor related to Major League Baseball to engage fans of America’s pastime.
Baseball cards were one of the original inspirations for Someecards founders Danny Zappin and Joshua Goldberg when they were brainstorming name ideas in college. They wanted to create an online version of exchanging funny postcards, so they combined “some” and “ecards” to come up with the name. From the early days of the site, user-submitted baseball cards took off in popularity thanks to the wide audience of MLB fans and the natural comedic opportunities that arise from the long history and traditions of the national pastime.
Subjects that baseball joke cards frequently mine include obscure stats, legendary players, storied rivalries, playoff heartbreak, cheating scandals and more. One of the earliest viral baseball cards showed a photo of Babe Ruth with the caption “Pretty good for a part-time hot dog salesman.” This simple joke plays on Ruth’s legendary career while also nodding to his post-retirement ownership of a restaurant. Clever uses of familiar figures and subtle references resonated with fans and helped baseball comedy spread rapidly on Someecards.
As Someecards grew, its in-house comedy writers also sought to leverage their own baseball fandom and knowledge. Holiday-themed cards often incorporated winter baseball imagery – for Christmas one card superimposed Santa’s face on a ground ball being turned into a double play. Anniversary cards poked fun at power couples – Derek Jeter and supermodel dates, for instance. Timely political humor used the national sport as an allegory too, like labeling the Supreme Court “The Nine Old Men” after a controversial decision.
Beyond custom cards for occasions, Someecards launched topical baseball series. “If Play Ball Was Actually A Thing Said At Ballgames” imagined crowd-pleasing alternatives to the tradition-steeped pre-game ritual. The “Little Known MLB Rules” series offered fake regulations like “no eye black thicker than the strike zone” and specified duties for the mascot. List-style cards on “Problems Only Bronx Bombers Fans Understand” and “Things You Can Say During a No-Hitter But Not a Wedding” also struck comedic gold.
Someecards also regularly mines current baseball angles. After long-time MLB broadcaster Joe Buck said Yankee Stadium wasn’t a true ballpark in 2021, fans and writers had a field day with “Problems Only people who grew up in domes understand” responses. When the universal DH was finally added in 2022, cards joked that the league should go further and replace baseballs with Nerf balls to boost offense. Satire of analytics-driven decisions provides ripe material as well.
The website’s social following grew immensely thanks to these crowd-pleasing baseball cards. Someecards built a blue-chip sponsor roster and was acquired by Zeta Global in 2018 for its 100+ employees and hundreds of millions of online engagements annually. An outlet for casual and diehard fans alike, Someecards baseball comedy is a testament to how humor can bring people together over America’s pastime. Its cards created viral moments that sparked wider discussions – and brought smiles to those who just want to chuckle at an amusing meme between innings. Over a decade in, Someecards continues providing everyday laughs by hitting home runs with jokes about America’s favorite balls and strikes.
