Colorado Rockies pitcher Tyler Kinley has claimed to be related to President William McKinley, but there’s just one major problem.
According to a long Twitter thread from Suzie Hunter, there is precisely zero evidence to suggest that the Rockers pitcher and McKinley are related at all. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
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
In fact, there’s apparently substantial evidence through lineage lines that Kinley’s roots are tied back to North Carolina farmers.
On the flip side, through public records it’s not difficult to trace back Tyler’s Kinley lineage to humble farmers in North Carolina, whose presence there long predates McKinley’s assassination.
— Suzie Hunter (@TheSuzieHunter) April 4, 2021
As for the names not being the same, Kinley told RoxPile.com in 2020 about the situation, “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. And the best recommendation was to alter the name a little bit and that’s where that new Kinley line started.”
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
His brothers David and Abner only had daughters – no opportunity there to pass on any version of the last name.
— Suzie Hunter (@TheSuzieHunter) April 4, 2021
Again, as Hunter pointed on Twitter, there’s just no evidence to support the claim.
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
Man, this is a tough look for our guy Tyler. The dude has probably spent his whole life thinking he’s related to a former president, and then a reporter on a casual Sunday just nukes the whole narrative.
I mean, Suzie Hunter laid out her evidence like it was an episode of “CSI.” It was bulletproof!
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
Hopefully, Kinley can hit back with some rock solid evidence, but it looks like his claim has been obliterated. He better be ready to get laughed at in the Colorado clubhouse because that’s 100% coming.