We’re coming up on the 10-year anniversary of Kate Upton’s tweet heard round the world. The one she fired off at Major League Baseball after Justin Verlander lost a close race for the American League Cy Young Award in 2016.
The model wife of the professional baseball player didn’t think twice about going after the league and calling for the writers who didn’t vote for her husband to be exposed. She wanted answers and went to work.
Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros and his wife, Kate Upton, pose for a photo during the All-Star Red Carpet Show at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, Calif., on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
How much of Upton’s social media attack did the future Hall of Fame pitcher know about ahead of time? None. He didn’t know about it until after it was already underway. She was several tweets in when he found out about it.
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“I was doing MLB Network, they had the three finalists on the air, and as soon as it came out, she was firing,” Verlander revealed on the podcast On Base with Mookie Betts.
“And so we finished the interview and I go down, and she’s like, ‘You’re not going to like it.’ And sure enough, she had fired off a bunch of stuff, and she had another one preloaded, ready to go.”
DETROIT, MI – JUNE 21: Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander (35) with his wife, Kate Upton, prior to the Fathers’ Day game between Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers on June 21, 2026 at Comerica Park in Detroit, MI (Photo by Allan Dranberg/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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There’s a good chance we’ll never know what that preloaded tweet had to say, because Verlander told her to lower her weapons by that time. Upton’s disapproval of her husband losing to Rick Porcello by five points was obvious.
She had said all she needed to say in the now infamous tweet. She wrote for all to see, “Hey @MLB I thought I was the only person allowed to f— @JustinVerlander ?! What 2 writers didn’t have him on their ballot?”
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Justin Verlander poses for a photo with his wife, Kate Upton, during the MLB Red Carpet Show presented by Chevrolet at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. (Adam Glanzman/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
By that time, Kate Upton’s work in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit and elsewhere had cemented her legacy as a model. She already had two of her four SI Swimsuit issue covers under her belt.
This tweet helped cement her legacy as an MLB WAG. She could have stayed quiet the day Justin Verlander lost the AL Cy Young Award back on Nov. 16, 2016. She chose instead to go right after Major League Baseball.
