NEW YORK—Slamming the pixelated video as “ludicrous” and having no basis in real-life physics, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson released a statement Wednesday debunking Yankee Stadium’s home run animation depicting a baseball being launched into Earth’s stratosphere. “First of all, absolutely no amount of human force could ever cause a baseball to exit the first layer of the atmosphere, and there is no way it would continue at steady rate, especially when you consider the gravity from the stars, moons, and comets the ball is passing; however, I’d like to clarify that those celestial objects do not exist in the stratosphere,” said Tyson, suggesting that if the animation’s intention was to demonstrate the power a batter has put into a baseball, it would be more effective to show the ball exiting the parking lot or breaking through a wooden barrier as those events are at least within the realm of possibility. “This is stupid, mindless entertainment, and I don’t know why baseball teams deceive their fans like this. A baseball would never gain enough speed during an ascent to catch on fire like that. We should all demand more scientific literacy in our jumbotron animations.” Tyson went on to clarify that while the science of the animation didn’t hold up for him, he was still able to appreciate the human drama felt by the shocked look on the baseball’s face as it hurtled towards the moon.

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