The Steroid Era in major-league baseball from 1994 to 2004 saw a dramatic increase in home runs and career resurgences of late-career players. Anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) were widely accepted as the explanation, but baseball quants never found that convincing. One reason is illustrated in the chart below.
The statistical signature of the Steroid Era was the ratio of home runs to singles. Players didn’t get more hits, but more of the hits left the park. The chart shows the home run/single ratio by season, color coded by baseball era. The ratio did increase rapidly in the Steroid Era, but not as dramatically as in the Live Ball and Integration Eras. Moreover, the big picture seems to be a steady increase since organized professional baseball began.
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