I run one of the original, Daniel Okrent fantasy baseball leagues that we started in 1988.  Daniel Okrent named it Rotisserie baseball after the Rotisserie Restaurant in New York, where he penciled the first rules that became known as fantasy sports.

Over the years, we learned how to spot baseball players who were on steroids.  Their batting average leaped by as much as 80 points, and the power increase was obvious.

We believe that McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds took high doses of steroids when they passed Babe Ruth's 60–home run record.  Roger Maris obviously did not take steroids, but his season was 162 games.  The Babe hit 60 in 154 games, and that record may be the most iconic in all of sports.  It has stood for 95 years.

When Mantle and Maris were chasing the Babe's record, every home run was news every day.  Ruth's iconic record is about to be broken, and no one is noticing.

It appeared rather obvious to us that Aaron Judge was not on steroids since Giancarlo Stanton proudly announced that he had not taken steroids and told his teammates not to use them.  Judge's numbers and common injuries indicated that he was clean.  His batting average began rather low but has improved steadily, no big leap.  He just hit his 54th home run in 134 games.

Wake up, sportswriters. 

James T. Moodey is a retired entrepreneur, author, and economic essayist.  His recent book, The Ladder Out of Poverty, successfully determined why the poverty rate has not declined since the Great Society promised to end poverty.

Image: Picryl.