L'Equipe: Room for Improvement

France’s most iconic sports newspaper, L’Equipe, began in 1946 covering auto racing before expanding to all sports. While it highlights football, rugby, tennis, golf, handball, and volleyball, baseball occasionally sneaks into the spotlight. In 2020, only one of 45 articles focused on French baseball, while 2021 saw just 28 articles with none on France. 2022 brought 45 articles, with three touching on French baseball. Though progress is noted, the coverage remains sparse, with no mention of Baseball5 or junior leagues.

One can reasonably hope that 2023 will bring even more articles, especially on French baseball. As of mid-May, however, no articles have been published on the subject. Perhaps there’s just no news yet, as the season is only a third of the way through. Still, the journal has only produced five articles on baseball in general this year, with the last two in May failing to shine a light on the sports we all love.

The first of these articles was about a peculiar coincidence: “The Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros faced off in a regular-season MLB game on Saturday, with each team fielding a player whose last name was France.”

Admittedly, the news is thin, but it’s amusing nonetheless.

The second article, published on May 1st, was unfortunately far more sensational. Perhaps they hired a freelancer with a background in tabloids and celebrity gossip. The headline read: “Matthew Delaney, a college baseball player, was hit by a stray bullet during a game”, accompanied by a photo of a pristine baseball on a lush green field.

Like all of us, you might assume that a powerful hit or wild pitch struck poor Matthew. But that’s not the case at all! The article continued: “About a hundred people were watching the game when a bullet fired approximately 400 meters from the field during a shootout between two men in a nearby neighborhood hit the Eagles player.”

While the incident might warrant an article—it’s not a common occurrence—we can’t help but question the headline and photo, which suggest that baseball is a dangerous game that could land you in intensive care. (Yes, it’s true, but that can happen in any sport…) The comments on the article are telling, with many noting that such a thing could only happen in the USA. In fact, this article garnered around 15 comments, while most others receive only one or two.

So, to the journalists, translators, or AI at L’Equipe, please produce quality articles about baseball, like the one on the counter-history of baseball published in March 2022 about Gaétan Alibert’s book.

Baseball, softball, and Baseball5 deserve the same coverage as other sports featured in your publication, without resorting to tabloid-style sensationalism. The baseball community will surely follow.