Sports Media's Climate Silence
Baseball journalists have been quiet about the study linking rising home runs to climate change
Last week, a group of Dartmouth researchers published a study in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society claiming that climate change caused more than 500 additional home runs since 2000. While people can debate the specific statistical conclusions of the study, the qualitative result that baseballs will fly further and home runs will increase as average temperatures rise is true. The study warns that in a worst-case trajectory, there could be as many as 5% more home runs than normal by 2050 and 10% by 2100, a scenario MLB should be looking to avoid.
For a study that warns of a looming problem facing baseball, there has been a lack of sports media coverage. Headlines appear in the Associated Press, Fox News, Washington Post, NPR, Forbes, NBC News, and Science News but not sports sites. There is zero mention of the study in major outlets like The Athletic, Sports Illustrated, Fangraphs, and Bleacher Report. Barstool Sports and ESPN are the only major sports sites to publish something about the study, with Barstool’s post poking fun at environmentalists rather than critically engaging with the study and ESPN’s just a rerun of AP’s article.
When a climate study about a sport gains traction in the mainstream media, why do major sports websites ignore it? Sports media has a history of ignoring climate change’s effects on baseball. When legendary TV broadcaster Tim McCarver dared to mention that climate change might have caused several home runs he didn’t expect in a broadcast in 2012, his comment was widely ridiculed. Other outlets outside of sports like the Washington Post provided credence to McCarver’s hypothesis at the time, but those articles were written by journalists covering weather and climate rather than sports.
The lack of engagement with climate change by sports media is puzzling. It is clear that players and coaches have opinions about climate change and the effects they witness on the field. In Seth Borenstein’s article (another climate writer) in the Associated Press, players and coaches say that their experience on the field matches the conclusions of the Dartmouth study.
Baseball players and executives have varied reactions to the study. Borenstein talked to Colorado Rockies pitcher Brent Suter, who said that the amount of extra home runs caused by climate change sounds like a lot, but seemed plausible. He added, “I remember pitching some games I was just, like ‘This does not feel like normal heat. It’s crazy hot.’” Philadelphia Phillies executive Dave Dombrowki added his perspective from a front office, telling Borenstein that his office agrees that climate has an impact, and “has felt that way for years.” David Cone, New York Yankees legend and current broadcaster, expressed skepticism that climate change is causing more home runs, but also said he “wouldn’t shoo it away.”
There are three vastly different perspectives from the baseball community depicted in Borenstein’s story, each one demonstrating that compelling conversations about climate change are happening in the clubhouses and front offices across the league. The quotes inspire more questions. Have Suter’s teammates had similar experiences with heat? What do other front offices think about climate change? What do retired players remember about the climate when they were playing and how is it different today? The AP article is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to stories that baseball media could write but currently ignore.
While sports media might ignore climate change in baseball, right-wing outlets certainly do not. Articles mocking the recent study appear in the New York Post, the Washington Times, and MRCTV. Even Fox News contributor Greg Gutfeld discussed the study on his show Gutfeld! — a late night program on Fox News. Discourse on Twitter about climate change and home runs is dominated by conservatives bashing the climate movement for invading baseball and piling onto scientists sharing the study.
Unlike the AP article, these media outlets lack the perspective of those directly involved in the baseball world. Cheryl Chumley of the Washington Times claims that “climate alarmists” are “cashing in” on baseball, without elaborating on who these “climate alarmists” are or how they plan on profiting off of climate change in baseball. The New York Post similarly ignores the experiences of the baseball community, instead boosting the perspective of a scientist who once claimed that greenhouse gasses are not the cause of climate change. Usually, the right-wing media can find a poster-child to provide them with juicy quotes, but not a single player is quoted denying that climate change is causing more home runs in any of their pieces.
It is a failure of sports media that the discourse surrounding this study is being dominated by substance-less right-wing outrage. Rather than having an informed and nuanced discussion about climate change’s effect on baseball, climate scientists are called “stupid” and dragged through the mud, with no evidence or testimony from the baseball community substantiating the climate denial. As the AP story demonstrates, the clubhouse conversations across the league are multifaceted and informed by actual experience, unlike the discourse unfolding online and in the media.
Bringing those nuanced perspectives and conversations to the fans’ attention is baseball media’s responsibility. As climate change continues to worsen and increasingly affect people’s lives, baseball fans deserve to be aware of how their favorite sport is being impacted. It is time for baseball media to rise to the occasion and report on these impacts, because it’s clear that climate change isn’t leaving baseball alone anymore.