Joe Kinsey
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In one of the more interesting research projects you’re ever going to see out of baseball social media, TV reporter Suzie Hunter says she has debunked the narrative that Rockies reliever Tyler Kinley is the great-great-great grandnephew of President William McKinley. Using public records, Hunter tells OutKick she spent four to five hours putting the pieces together to prove that Kinley is not related to the 25th president.
What drove Suzie down this rabbit hole that wasn’t exactly on the radar of mainstream baseball fans? Kinley — 91 appearances with the Twins, Marlins and Rockies over the last four seasons — isn’t a household name, but he does have an interesting bio that caught Hunter’s ear. “So many people were talking about it on social media and on-air during games, I’m like…. this does not sound true, how has no one looked into this?!” she told me via Twitter direct message.
The story told by media outlets is one that the Minneapolis Star-Tribune told in 2018. Kinley told the newspaper that his family dropped the first two letters of the last name due to safety concerns after McKinley was assassinated.
“We were told that his son was advised from Secret Service and protective companies that were protecting him after his father was assassinated that he needed to do something to protect the family line,” Kinley told RoxPile.com during a 2018 interview. “And the best recommendation was to alter the name a little bit and that’s where that new Kinley line started.”
Suzie Hunter tells me there’s “no chance” Tyler’s related to McKinley. Not even a .1 percent chance. “I traced back his lineage and they’ve been in North Carolina since long before McKinley’s assassination,” she says. So far Tyler has yet to respond to Suzie’s news.
Here’s the full report:
I don't know how to tell this to Rockies reliever Tyler Kinley, but he is not related to President William McKinley (a thread)
— Suzie Hunter (@TheSuzieHunter) April 4, 2021
Kinley told them he's related to President McKinley but members of the family dropped the "Mc" as a safety measure after his assassination in 1901. Unfortunately there is no evidence of this.
— Suzie Hunter (@TheSuzieHunter) April 4, 2021
AP has mentioned it… it: https://t.co/VTNuVabk2v pic.twitter.com/KXavQ597mv
— Suzie Hunter (@TheSuzieHunter) April 4, 2021
And because of these reputable publications giving this validation with literally zero research, it's on his Wikipedia page! But with *just a little* digging, you'll see it doesn't add up.
— Suzie Hunter (@TheSuzieHunter) April 4, 2021
Here's the thing – there's no evidence that any of them changed the name. However, there's lots to suggest they kept that name. These men lived very public lives.
— Suzie Hunter (@TheSuzieHunter) April 4, 2021
His brother James McKinley's descendants have carried the family name into the 2000s – no name change.
— Suzie Hunter (@TheSuzieHunter) April 4, 2021
In that interview, Tyler Kinley recognized that if it is just some kind of old wives' tale, someone would be able to prove him wrong… so here I am. All of this is through public records and are free to find, by the way. pic.twitter.com/Ft1mPUu8Jx
— Suzie Hunter (@TheSuzieHunter) April 4, 2021
There was no third child, no secret son. Ida Saxton McKinley spent the last 30 years of her life incapable of caring for herself. She only lived another 6 years after her husband's assassination, it's quite tragic.
— Suzie Hunter (@TheSuzieHunter) April 4, 2021
My take on this: it sounds like someone in the Kinley family told Tyler a tall tale that's gone unchecked for too long.
— Suzie Hunter (@TheSuzieHunter) April 4, 2021
Great. Now do Hunter Biden.
Wow. What courageous reporting, to go after a non-famous player and his family over a homespun legend that’s he’s never sought to cash in on or make a big deal of in any way.
I suppose now she’ll research the lineage of every white player in the game to find out whether their distant relatives owned slaves, so they can be publicly shamed and forced to apologize.
And the media can’t imagine why everybody hates them so much.
And by the way, loved the “humble farmers” line. “Your relatives are just a bunch of common hicks! How dare you think you’re special, you piece of trash!”
Way to go, Suzie, you sure put a “humble” family in their place.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
“I don’t know how to tell this to Rockies reliever Tyler Kinley, but he is not related to President William McKinley (a thread)”
You could have pulled him aside and told him rather than putting it on Twitter for everyone to see while acting sheepish about how to break the news to him.