George Costanza made hitting home runs sound easy when he described it on Seinfeld: “Calculate the velocity, v, in relation to the trajectory, t, in which g, gravity, of course remains a constant. It’s not complicated.”
While the physics behind baseball may seem unalterable, higher temperatures reduce air density, which makes it likelier for a batted ball to fly farther. That means climate change is now influencing the game — and affecting the frequency of home runs, according to new research.
In a paper published Friday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, researchers from Dartmouth College find that rising global temperatures have led to an increase in home runs in Major League Baseball games — particularly those played in non-domed stadiums — due to reduced air density.
