Priest, Mathematician, Author

Priest, Mathematician, Baseball Expert and Wonderful Human Retiring from West Point

By Dennis Sevano

The United States Military Academy at West Point was formally established in 1802 but played a major role in the American Revolution. It’s strategic location, above the west bank of the Hudson River straddling New York and New Jersey, was valued by General George Washington who commissioned a Polish engineer, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, to design its fortifications where Washington established his headquarters in 1779. It remains the oldest continuously occupied Army post in the United States. Major Sylvanus Thayer served as the Superintendent from 1817-1833 and he emphasized rigorous academic standards, military discipline, honorable conduct and leadership, with civil and military engineering as foundational to the curriculum – talents needed for nation-building! West Point became the first engineering school in the fledgling nation. Seventy-seven graduates have received the Medal of Honor and two were presidents (Grant and Eisenhower).

Fr. Gabriel Costa, a Catholic Priest, was educated at Stevens Institute of Technology, another prominent engineering school 60 miles south of West Point on the west bank of the same Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he received his baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degrees. After twenty-eight years as a faculty member and Professor of Mathematical Sciences at West Point, Fr. Costa will be retiring at the end of 2025. His is a story worth telling.

There have been a number of Jersey-born and raised products who taught at West Point but only one ordained Catholic priest in the Mathematical Sciences, instructing cadets at this oldest Army post. Growing up in the streets of Hoboken in Hudson County, living in Housing Authority Projects during high school and Stevens Tech, and raised by a single mother, Gabriel attended the K-12 Hoboken Public Schools. While he credits many teachers for his achievements, no mentor has meant more to him than Ralph Rodriguez, his late high school math teacher who taught him about math and teaching but more so about kindness and dedication.

Dr. Costa – he became “Fr.” Costa after his master’s degree – is a rare distinction. As he plans to leave West Point and the thousands of cadets, graduates and faculty he came to know, he returns to Seton Hall University, in South Orange, New Jersey, where he began his university teaching career. Seton Hall and the Archdiocese of Newark graciously granted him academic leave 30 years ago to pursue a guest faculty position at West Point. Now a priest for 46 years, he plans to continue a modest schedule of teaching and priestly ministry – which includes serving as the Minister to the Priest Community in the Archdiocese of Newark.

Alongside his vocation to the priesthood and his many years of ministry, Fr. Costa cultivated his love for mathematics and his boyhood love of baseball – especially his love of a figure who is arguably the most iconic person in all of sports’ history – Babe Ruth. One mark of a great person is the ability to pursue your passion as you make a difference in the world. Fr. Costa combined his love of mathematics and baseball and developed the first university-level course in the new field of “Sabermetrics” – named after the Society for Baseball Research – a special study of baseball statistics and “analytics” that almost every ballplayer and manager now uses to improve performance! Fr. Costa has been the lead author of four books on Sabermetrics – alongside his other publications in sabermetrics, pure mathematics, and spirituality. His reputation as a mathematician, priest, baseball enthusiast and expert on Babe Ruth and his writings in spirituality truly make him a Renaissance Man. His inherent kindness and capacity to connect with others led him to form close friendships with Babe Ruth’s late sister, Mary “Mamie” Moberly, his daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, and with the Babe’s granddaughter, Linda Ruth Tosetti and her husband Andy.

He has authored updated editions in the famous Schaum’s series on Differential Equations (with his former professor Richard Bronson), and his teaching in mathematics is extensive with courses ranging from MA 104 (Single Variable Calculus), MA 364 (Engineering Math) and his creation of MA 488 (Sabermetrics) – which he adapted to illustrate math equations about baseball legends Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. Fr. Costa’s esteem for Babe Ruth is reflected in a saying among Sabermetricians: If a statistical analysis does not support the fact that Babe Ruth is the best baseball player in history, then the statistical analysis is wrong! His love for the Yankees has also led him to invite several Yankee greats to speak to the cadets, and as part of his mathematical instruction, he has mentored his cadet students to conduct statistical analyses of players’ records to dispute his assertions about key Yankees greats. His creative teaching methods and style have brought algorithms alive and are wickedly unique.

In 2016, Fr. Costa appeared in a special segment of the MLB Network, explaining the unlikely probability that Joe DiMaggio’s record of 56 consecutive games with a hit will ever be broken. He explained the math using a blackboard and chalk!

When asked about his passions in life, he stated, “I cherish being a priest first, a mathematician second, and a Yankee and Hoboken guy third.” His drive came from his mom, a single parent and his brother, Dr. Gerard Costa, a Professor at Montclair State University who has given lectures on infant mental health and autism to audiences in Thailand, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Chile, Russia and more.

Fr. Gabe’s math ascent from the housing projects, from a home without material resources, but with love and kindness from his mother and brother, supports the saying that, “Solid results occur when people set a course and pursue it with energy and discipline.” Success is not reserved only for the talented. It is not only for those with a high IQ, nor for those gifted at birth, nor for those with the best material and equipment. Success is almost totally dependent upon drive, focus and persistence.

Dr- and Fr. – Gabe Costa represents that preamble.