PED-estrian

 What is the difference between sixty-two and seventy-three? If you answered eleven, you are a mathematician. If you paused and gave this problem more thought, then you are probably a baseball fan. In the most recent case of how real life can impact mathematics, Aaron Judge hit sixty-two home runs in a season. That is one more than sixty-one, the number of home runs hit by the late Roger Maris way back in 1961. Seventy-three is the number of home runs hit by Barry Bonds hit in the 2001 season. That was the most anyone had ever hit in major league baseball.

Some might argue that seventy-three is actually less than sixty-two, and as it turns out, it really does depend on the year. Barry Bonds' accomplishment was made at a time when the number of home runs was rapidly climbing, with Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire topping the sixty home run mark along with Mister Bonds back before the turn of the century. This was an era referred to by many as "the steroids era," when major league baseball was just catching on to the whole notion of the ugly little secret called "performance enhancing drugs." There are those who would say that MLB politely turned the other way while baseballs went screaming out of ballparks in record numbers and television viewers tuned in by the millions to watch the race. 

In 2000, the New York Times broke a story that alleged that steroid use had become "widespread" in baseball. Two years later, Sports Illustrated took up the case. In 2005, Jose Canseco published his memoir entitled Juiced, and the questions that remained were taken up not by Major League Baseball but by the United States Congress. A shamed Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa showed up for questioning, denying steroid use, but the stories were already told. In 2010, McGwire confessed to what everyone already knew and baseball began to clean itself up. 

Twenty-one years after Barry Bonds hit his seventy-third home run in a season, Aaron Judge hit his sixty-second. The celebration was felt most profoundly in Yankee Stadium, where Roger Maris once played, and Aaron Judge came sixty years later to break the franchise record, if not that of Major League Baseball. Now the arguments can commence. For his part, Barry Bonds has managed to steer clear of confessing to steroid use, only admitting to using "clear stuff and some cream" given to him by trainers. How could he be guilty if he never knew what he was putting into and onto himself? 

Meanwhile, on October 5, 2022, Stephen Vogt of the Oakland Athletics had his last at bat in a ten year career. It was a home run. After going oh for thirty-two with the Tampa Bay Rays, Vogt's first hit in the major leagues came with the A's. It was a home run. Sometimes the magic of baseball gets lost in the numbers.