Jim Bowden caught stealing from fake Twitter account

On July 31, 2014, in Curve Balls

Jim Bowden, former MLB executive, has fashioned himself a second career as a baseball pundit for ESPN and SiriusXM radio. Today, baseball's biggest day for movement, trade deadline day, Bowden appears to have gotten caught stealing a scoop without attribution. We know because he unwittingly stole it from a fake account.

At 1:48, someone impersonating the New York Post's Joel Sherman tweeted that the Yankees have acquired Marlon Byrd from the Phillies. It is a fake account—the "L" is actually an "I."

Jim Bowden Caught Stealing From Fake Twitter Account, Deletes Everything

Two minutes later Bowden tweeted Byrd-to-Yankees. He did not credit who he thought was Sherman. (This was, no question, Bowden's Twitter account. It had 92,000 followers and is the one linked and endorsed on his ESPN.com page.)

Jim Bowden Caught Stealing From Fake Twitter Account, Deletes Everything

It spread quickly. Except the real Joel Sherman shot everything down.

Jim Bowden Caught Stealing From Fake Twitter Account, Deletes Everything

Jim Bowden panicked.

He first deleted his twitter photo so @JimBowdenESPNxm had an egg avatar and looked fake.
He then transferred his account to @JimBowdiv, perhaps thinking no one would find him? (His Marlon Byrd tweet is was still there.)
His original, @JimBowdenESPNxm account was nuked, but it is now back—with 25 followers at press time. Someone is cybersquatting the account, is using Bowden's old avatar, and is following fake Joel Sherman and no one else.
And just now, since I've been typing, @JimBowdiv has disappeared. We don't know where Jim Bowden went, and he's probably not going to receive the DMs we sent him. (Update: @JimBowdiv is back. For now. Here's a screengrab of his page, because he's a slippery Bowdiv. There's an updating thread in the comments below.)

We are convinced that Jim Bowden freaked out and physically flung his computer out the window. I don't care where David Price goes. This is the best part of trade deadline day.

Final update: Ralph.

Jim Bowden Caught Stealing From Fake Twitter Account, Deletes Everything