At age 30, Baltimore second baseman Davey Johnson joined the Atlanta Braves and hit 43 home runs. His previous high had been 18 at age 28...
Johnson hit 26 at home and 17 on the road. 17 is only one fewer than Johnson's previous high for a season. Why did Johnson have such a big power surge?
Teammate Darrell Evans played his first 7 seasons with Atlanta. In 1972 at age 25, Evans hit 19 home runs. In 1973 Evans hit 41 home runs: 24 home, 17 road. Very similar to Johnson...
The great Hank Aaron hit 40 homers in 1973 in only 392 at bats at age 39. 1973 was Aaron's personal best in AB/HR: 9.8. Second best: age 37, 10.5 AB per HR. Aaron entered the 1973 season with 713 career home runs, one short of Babe Ruth's record. Aaron hit his career high for a single season at age 37, the same as Barry Bonds, in 1971 with 47 in only 495 at bats.
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Nolan Ryan, Tom House and steroids. Monday, August 11, 2014
... in the 1970s. Tom House "estimated that six or seven pitchers per team were at least experimenting with steroids or human growth hormone"...
Tom House is also noted for:
- becoming a pitching coach guru with many videos
- catching Hank Aaron's record breaking 715th home run; House was Aaron's teammate (1971-1974) and caught it in the Braves bullpen ...
Former pitcher Tom House describes past steroid use 5/3/2005 usatoday.com
Former major league pitcher Tom House used steroids during his career and said performance-enhancing drugs were widespread in baseball in the 1960s and 1970s, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday...
... he and several teammates used amphetamines, human growth hormone and "whatever steroid" they could find in order to keep up with the competition.
"I pretty much popped everything cold turkey," House said. "We were doing steroids they wouldn't give to horses. That was the '60s, when nobody knew. The good thing is, we know now. There's a lot more research and understanding." ...
House, 58, estimated that six or seven pitchers per team were at least experimenting with steroids or human growth hormone. He said players talked about losing to opponents using more effective drugs.
"We didn't get beat, we got out-milligrammed," he said. "And when you found out what they were taking, you started taking them." ...
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AB: At Bats
HR: Home Runs
MLB: Major League Baseball: both American League and National League
Home Run Rate: AB/HR (lower is better)
N: number of MLB teams that season
Top home run hitters: N hitters with the most HR, plus any ties at the bottom
Home Run Rate MLB: for N hitters: total AB / total HR
Home Run Rate hitters: AB/HR
Dif: Home Run Rate hitter - Home Run Rate MLB
PctDif: Dif/Home Run Rate MLB
HR#: rank among N hitters for HR
PctDif#: rank among N hitters for PctDif
Hitters are ranked by relative position: 1, 2, 3, ... Ties would have the same number and then rank number would resume. For example, if four players are tied at third place: 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 7, 8, ...
The matrix below for 1973 MLB home run leaders is sorted on PctDif. Three Braves are in the top five:
1. Aaron
3. Johnson
5. Evans
15. Home Run rates: Mantle, Mays, Aaron. Sunday, December 8, 2019
Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were #1 in PctDif in the two seasons that each hit at least 50 home runs. Aaron was #1 three consecutive years at ages 37, 38, 39. Mantle was 36 in his last season.
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| yearID | nameFirst | nameLast | PctDif | PctDif# | HR# | HR | AB | P_AB/HR | Group_ AB/HR | Dif | franchID | teamID | lgID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Hank | Aaron | 45.38% | 1 | 4 | 40 | 392 | 9.8 | 17.94 | 8.14 | ATL | ATL | NL |
| 1973 | Willie | Stargell | 33.87% | 2 | 1 | 44 | 522 | 11.86364 | 17.94 | 6.08 | PIT | PIT | NL |
| 1973 | Davey | Johnson | 27.54% | 3 | 2 | 43 | 559 | 13 | 17.94 | 4.94 | ATL | ATL | NL |
| 1973 | Willie | McCovey | 26.39% | 4 | 9 | 29 | 383 | 13.2069 | 17.94 | 4.73 | SFG | SFN | NL |
| 1973 | Darrell | Evans | 19.11% | 5 | 3 | 41 | 595 | 14.5122 | 17.94 | 3.43 | ATL | ATL | NL |
| 1973 | Bobby | Bonds | 8.10% | 6 | 5 | 39 | 643 | 16.48718 | 17.94 | 1.45 | SFG | SFN | NL |
| 1973 | Reggie | Jackson | 6.12% | 7 | 6 | 32 | 539 | 16.84375 | 17.94 | 1.10 | OAK | OAK | AL |
| 1973 | Jeff | Burroughs | 2.27% | 8 | 7 | 30 | 526 | 17.53333 | 17.94 | 0.41 | TEX | TEX | AL |
| 1973 | Frank | Robinson | 0.79% | 9 | 7 | 30 | 534 | 17.8 | 17.94 | 0.14 | ANA | CAL | AL |
| 1973 | Bill | Robinson | -0.77% | 10 | 20 | 25 | 452 | 18.08 | 17.94 | -0.14 | PHI | PHI | NL |
| 1973 | Lee | May | -8.49% | 11 | 12 | 28 | 545 | 19.46428 | 17.94 | -1.52 | HOU | HOU | NL |
| 1973 | Joe | Ferguson | -8.58% | 12 | 20 | 25 | 487 | 19.48 | 17.94 | -1.54 | LAD | LAN | NL |
| 1973 | Carlton | Fisk | -8.90% | 13 | 14 | 26 | 508 | 19.53846 | 17.94 | -1.60 | BOS | BOS | AL |
| 1973 | John | Mayberry | -9.33% | 14 | 14 | 26 | 510 | 19.61539 | 17.94 | -1.67 | KCR | KCA | AL |
| 1973 | Bob | Bailey | -9.98% | 15 | 14 | 26 | 513 | 19.73077 | 17.94 | -1.79 | WSN | MON | NL |
| 1973 | Richie | Hebner | -13.48% | 16 | 20 | 25 | 509 | 20.36 | 17.94 | -2.42 | PIT | PIT | NL |
| 1973 | Sal | Bando | -13.78% | 17 | 9 | 29 | 592 | 20.41379 | 17.94 | -2.47 | OAK | OAK | AL |
| 1973 | Tony | Perez | -16.43% | 18 | 13 | 27 | 564 | 20.88889 | 17.94 | -2.95 | CIN | CIN | NL |
| 1973 | Cesar | Cedeno | -17.05% | 19 | 20 | 25 | 525 | 21 | 17.94 | -3.06 | HOU | HOU | NL |
| 1973 | Greg | Luzinski | -17.24% | 20 | 9 | 29 | 610 | 21.03448 | 17.94 | -3.09 | PHI | PHI | NL |
| 1973 | Rick | Monday | -18.76% | 21 | 14 | 26 | 554 | 21.30769 | 17.94 | -3.37 | CHC | CHN | NL |
| 1973 | Joe | Morgan | -23.48% | 22 | 14 | 26 | 576 | 22.15385 | 17.94 | -4.21 | CIN | CIN | NL |
| 1973 | Johnny | Bench | -24.18% | 23 | 20 | 25 | 557 | 22.28 | 17.94 | -4.34 | CIN | CIN | NL |
| 1973 | Amos | Otis | -24.98% | 24 | 14 | 26 | 583 | 22.42308 | 17.94 | -4.48 | KCR | KCA | AL |
| 1973 | Dave | May | -39.12% | 25 | 20 | 25 | 624 | 24.96 | 17.94 | -7.02 | MIL | ML4 | AL |
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