I am certainly no fan of A.I., but can see its uses when it comes to getting answers to difficult questions or creating funny memes. But a swarm of phony historical baseball photos have seeped into the Facebook feeds of myself and many other fans of the game—and the scourge has reached epidemic proportions. 

On pages called Diamond Days, Old-TIme Baseball, and Baseball in Pics, to name a few, insanely fake pictures of players from the past are posted daily that any casual baseball fan can claim are absolute bullshit after five seconds of observation. If the players named in the photo aren’t wrong to begin with, ballparks are not what they are, impossible angles are used, proportions are from another planet, and over and over again, giant scoreboards added in the background are just a joke. Check out this masterpiece featuring St. Louis stolen base legend Lou Brock, staring into a dugout while getting a lead off third base for some reason, while both the Cardinals and Cubs have a fielder positioned behind him…

Here’s Ty Cobb sliding into home plate even though it says third base, with two guys in suits standing on the field for some reason. (Purported photographer William A. Kuenzel needs to be contacted about this in his coffin.)

Here’s Cardinal Bob Gibson, who gets repeated A.I. treatments, about to throw a pitch even though Roger Maris is already finishing his swing. The ballpark they’re in is a blend of maybe four different yards, none of them Yankee Stadium or old Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, where this game was actually played if it existed.

Now check out Pete Rose “before he became a degenerate gambler,” even though he was apparently still a porn star. The “WORLD SERIES CHAMPION” banner which if it corresponds with the scoreboard, is flat-out comical., seeing the Reds won that series in Boston and that place isn’t even Riverfront Stadium.

And while we’re on the subject of Fenway Park, check this other Bob Gibson atrocity, which shows Gibby about to throw the ball into the first base dugout, someone who is not Ken Harrelson with a hare-brained open stance, and Monster Seats on top of the left field wall that didn’t exist for another 38 years.

Finally, in the most idiotic one I’ve seen yet, Ken Griffey Jr. not only became twenty-feet tall, but suddenly batted right-handed and the Reds ballpark was magically transported across the river to Kentucky, with the Roebling Bridge and Cincinnati skyline in the background.

See, if the fools who create these abominations would just admit they’re having fun playing around with A.I., then I would say “that’s hilarious” and move on. What angers me, and why I nearly always add to the flood of nasty comments beneath each photo, is that the creators consistently insult our intelligence by trying to tell us the pictures are real. We already live in a world where a certain regime lies 24 hours a day, where truth is either ignored or twisted. We certainly don’t need A.I. clowns giving us fake history lessons. Not that any good will come of it, but I’ve repeatedly reported many of these group pages for fraud. So should you.