How a student recited every World Series winner in under 2 minutes

If you saw Ryan Clinger preparing for his big moment last month, his attempt to name every World Series winner from 1903 to 2025, you might think he was losing his mind.

"My girlfriend plays softball at the University of Buffalo, and she didn't pitch the first game," Clinger said in a phone call. "So I was just standing there, cold at this game, and made the most of it. I pulled out my phone, looked at it and then I'd rip it off to myself. I'd just walk around in place. I looked like I had problems. I'm not like full Gollum where I'm having an argument, but it's like, 'Wow this guy's talking to himself a lot.'"

But a few days later, that inane muttering about the Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Americans and New York Giants from some guy walking in circles on a cold upstate New York night, turned into exactly what the guy wanted: a viral sensation on social media. On TikTok, on Instagram, on Reddit.

"I'm very grateful that people find these videos entertaining," Clinger said.

If you're one of his thousands of followers on social media, you already know that Clinger has made a bit out of memorizing champions in different sports. His first was every NBA champion up until the 2025-26 season. He went through every Piston Cup winner ever (Clinger assured me that "yes, there is a list online"). He's rattled off every NFL Draft pick.

But every World Series winner up through 2025 would be perhaps the Baldwin Wallace College senior's greatest feat yet: 121 teams.

Some that won, moved locations, and won again 50 years later. Some that don't even exist anymore.

"The World Series was one of the most difficult," Clinger told me. "Just because it goes all the way back to 1903."

So, how would he do it? How good was his MLB knowledge?

Clinger told me he could recall winners from last season to 2004, when the Red Sox won their first title in 86 seasons. Baseball probably wasn't his first love, but he enjoyed it and appreciated its long, fascinating history. And not that it mattered, but he never really played the sport. Well, almost never.

He was a stat-keeper for his high school team his senior year in Ohio. On senior night, he was put into the game for an at-bat that may or may not have been legal because he wasn't actually really on the roster.

"We put all the gear we had in the dugout on me," Clinger said. "Hat under my helmet, sunglasses around my neck and also on my face. I took the first pitch for a strike, swung on the second and fouled it off. I didn't even realize where it went, so I took off to first and everyone's cheering just because I made contact. I came back, watched the first pitch go by and I struck out."

Still, the historic high school strikeout couldn't have hurt the World Series champion-naming feat he would attempt four years later. Maybe it even helped? Lighting a fire of revenge to showcase that, yes, he knew ball.

Clinger started memorizing the 121 teams around Sept. 30 while he was doing laundry, and he had it pretty much down by Oct. 10. He filmed it on Oct. 13.

"I would always start with the most recent: Dodgers, Dodgers, Rangers and go all the way back," Clinger said. "I would never, ever go, 'Let's go from '55 back.' That's bad, then you're gonna end up losing. Patterns start to form. There's a period where it's Yankees, Cardinals, Tigers, Cardinals, Yankees. When those patterns start to form, then you get it down."

It took a lot of pacing around his apartment, friends quizzing him on years in the cafeteria, wandering around his girlfriend's softball games and abnormal amounts of time in the bathroom.

"A lot of standing in the shower while the water gets a little cold," Clinger said.

Sometimes it might even cut into class time.

"I'm not gonna lie to you, but my geology class is really boring," Clinger told me. "My friend, she's like, 'I can see you trying to memorize your stuff.' I would be there whispering to myself. I'd be like, 'Wait, was it the Cardinals in '67?' And then I'd have to look it up and check on my computer. If I messed it up, I'd do it three more times through to get it right."

What exactly does Clinger get out of videos like this?

He didn't pass a midterm, as he said in the World Series video and others -- that's more of a joke setup for engagement. He seems to just enjoy the challenge and like that people like it. The lover of improv, the college sports broadcaster, has found a niche and an online voice that most people his age are looking to find these days.

Oh, and maybe most importantly, it's a tremendous party trick.

"Especially on the weekends, if I'm out at a bar, everybody wants to hear me rip it off," Clinger said. "And you just have to get to like '94 and they're like, 'Oh, we believe you!' Or these drunken guys are like, 'Oh, can you name them all?' I'm like, 'Yeah,' and if I accidentally flip one, they'll never know."