How to find your Epoch Evil Twin

I have two baseball players that are my Epoch Evil Twin. Cameron Drew and Joe Bitker.

What is an Epoch Evil Twin? And how do you find yours? Let me explain.

What is Epoch?

Programmers needed to assign a unique number to every second in existence. To do this, everyone needed to agree upon one central second to start counting from. For whatever reason, they chose January 1, 1970 to start their count.

For example, at 12:01am on January 1, 1970, one minute would have passed by, making the epoch number be 60. 12:02am, the number would be 120.

I was born on November 20, 1975 at 3:18am CST, so my Epoch number for my birthday is: 185707080. That’s 185,707,080 seconds after January 1, 1970. Pretty cool. The exact second I was born has specific unique number: 185707080. That number is ME!

My twin brother was born four minutes before me. That’s 240 seconds. So his Epoch number is 240 less than mine: 185706840. (Note, this is my real life twin. Not my Epoch twin. We’ll get to Epoch twins in a moment.)

You can find your number by using an online Epoch calculator.

But what if you were born before January 1, 1970? Well, you get a negative number!

Bill Murray (the actor, comedian, and writer) was born on September 21, 1950. I don’t know the time of day, so I’ll put 12 noon. His Epoch number is -608367600. It’s quite bigger than mine, because he was born many more years before 1970.

That’s Epoch time.

Now what’s this about having an Epoch Evil Twin?

If you have a positive number like mine, 185707080. Take it and make it into a negative: -185707080. Turning a positive number into a negative is a bit like turning Superman into Bizarro. I am the positive 185707080. Out there exists the negative -185707080. Mirror images, yet each exists on the flip side of the other. The flip side is your evil twin.

What day is -185707080? Using the same Epoch calculator, we find out it’s February 12, 1964. My Epoch Evil Twin was born on February 12, 1964. Da na na naaaaaa!

Who was born on that exact date? It seems nobody famous from a quick Google search. Instead, we can go to the incredible Baseball-Reference’s birthday finder. Plug in the date of your Epoch Evil Twin. In my case, I’ll enter in February 12. The website will give a nice long list of all the MLB players born on February 12, sorted by year.

Then I look to see if any MLB players were born on that year, 1964.

Why yes, indeed! TWO players were born on that exact day of February 12, 1964: Cameron Drew and Joe Bitker. Who? Both players had minimal time in the majors.

Cameron Drew

• Played 7 games in 1988 for Houston
• 16 at bats
• 2 singles, one triple

Joe Bitker

• Pitched in 15 games for Oakland and Texas in 1990-1991.
• Finished 7 games
• 4.73 ERA, 26.2 IP, 24 strikeouts
• Gave up 4 HR
• Drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 2nd round of the 1984 amateur draft
• August 29, 1990: The Oakland Athletics sent players to be named later to the Texas Rangers for Harold Baines.

I love that both players have baseball cards from the EXACT time when I was collecting cards, 1989 to 1991. Crazy!

How about Bill Murray? Who is his Epoch Evil Twin?

His Epoch birthday is -608367600. We take that negative number, and make it into a positive: 608367600. What day is that? The Epoch calculator tells us it’s April 12, 1989.

Billy Murray’s Epoch Evil Twins are pitchers Pedro Hernández and Raudel Lazo. Both were born on April 12, 1989.

Who is your Epoch Evil Twin?

If you find yours, please leave a comment below. Thank you.

A big shout-out to my brother-in-law for pointing out this Epoch timestamp fun on my Facebook wall. His Epoch Twin is Michael Keaton!