Stocks may be on an uptrend, but home runs certainly aren't. The most likely reason isn't phenomenal pitching, or better defense, but the elimination of steroids from Major League Baseball.
According to a 2008 article in the American Journal of Physics, the average home-runs-per-ball-in-play (HRBiP) was approximately 0.10 prior to the use of performance enhancing drugs, compared with 0.15 in the steroid era (1995-2003)—a shocking 50% increase. Author R.G. Tobin attributes this differential to the approximate 10% increase in muscle mass brought about by the use of such banned substances.
This observation leads us to attempt to explain the remarkable performance of hedge funds before 2007. Even the most carefully constructed indexes showed the ability of hedge fund managers to produce equity-like performance with bond-like volatility. But in the last few years, the industry has seen its results whither in comparison to the raging bull market, which has seen stocks double since 2009.
