Washington Nationals announcer F.P. Santangelo suggested during Tuesday night’s loss to the Chicago White Sox that “global warming” is contributing to the historic pace of home runs so far this season.
“I think the bats, plus the balls, plus launch angles, plus pitchers throwing hard, plus global warming is why there [are] so many home runs,” Santangelo said in the fifth inning, just after White Sox rookie Eloy Jimenez hit a monster home run to centerfield.
Santangelo’s puzzling remark came in response to a comment from play-by-play announcer Bob Carpenter, who said Major League Baseball was “giving fans what they want,” likely a reference to the wide-held belief that baseballs are “juiced” this season.
The record for most home runs ever in a single month was crushed in May, and players are currently on pace to shatter the record for most home runs in a season.
More likely explanations for the spike in home runs include that the ball is indeed juiced or that players have changed their approach and now swing for the fences constantly.
Santangelo also believes bat makers have now “mastered” the craft and are making a stronger bat.
Santangelo, a former major leaguer with a total of 21 home runs in his seven-year career, makes it his mission to avoid criticizing the Nationals or the league during broadcasts, earning him criticism from area sports commentators.
He is consistently ranked as one of the worst announcers in sports by Awful Announcing, which takes issue with his endless effort to brand home runs as “taters.”
Attempts to reach Santangelo to see whether he actually believes global warming is contributing to the spike in “taters” were unsuccessful.
Editor’s Note: The author of this piece is a native New Yorker and a fan of the New York Mets.
Read more at Free Beacon
Sounds like that idiot has taken to many pitches to the helmet .
So are we to conclude the fans should thank the earth having a fever for livening up long boring baseball games .
What a clown .
This article reveals more than is on the surface. This is an example of events being attributed to climate change that would require several degrees of warming rather than the zero to one degree that has actually occurred. It is easy to understand why. When NOAA announces that a particular month was the “hottest ever” they always leave out that it was hotter by a few or some cases just one hundredth of a degree. The mainstream media fully assists by making a big deal of the hottest while not mentioning how much. This and similar activities are likely to make many people think that the earth has warmed many degrees. I’m not sure about home runs, but such warming if it did occur would make impacts from warming more plausible.
Hey Rosebud WHO’S ON FIRST?