In recent years, we have seen some astronomical contracts given to professional athletes. Major League Baseball (MLB) has certainly had its share. One of its first notable “megadeals” was when Alex Rodriguez, the Seattle Mariners’ power-hitting shortstop, left the team to join the Texas Rangers in 2001. The Rangers committed
Billy Beane attained fame in baseball and analytics circles long before Brad Pitt portrayed him in the 2011 film Moneyball. In fact, Beane was making quite the name for himself prior to Michael Lewis’s 2004 book of the same name. It’s no overstatement to claim that, as general manager (GM)
Could you imagine running a business with a 35-90% annual turnover rate? What if the average time to fill a position was anywhere between 3-12 months? This alone would cripple most organizations, but is a common reality in state and local child welfare agencies. High turnover and vacancy rates are
There’s been quite a lot of chatter lately about my Boston Red Sox and their recent shift ‘away’ from using analytics or ‘sabermetrics,’ as data science is often referred to in baseball (Jeff Passan, one of my favorite baseball writers, chimes in here – Forbes also commented that the Sox are
Shocking headlines to start the new year: Paul DePodesta is leaving the New York Mets and Major League Baseball (MLB) to take a top office position at the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). Not so shocked? You don’t care? Who’s Paul De Podesta? Well for those of
A big part of "winning" these days (be it sports or a business) is performing analytics better than your competition. This is demonstrated in awe-inspiring fashion in the book (and movie) "Moneyball." And on that topic, I'd like to show you a few ways SAS can be used to analyze sports data
Last week, a new film featuring Brad Pitt came to theaters, and for a change, I’ll be dragging my wife to see it instead of the other way around. Moneyball is based on the best-selling book by Michael Lewis (2003) which chronicles the new-age, statistically driven philosophy successfully adopted by
A recent post on the International Institute for Analytics (IIA) site, Analytics Conferences Gone Wild!, is*not* about how statisticians are sexy. Yes, I'm recalling that memorable quote in the August 2009 NY Times story, "For Today’s Graduate, Just One Word: Statistics,” which included the following quote: “I keep saying that
Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical. -Yogi Berra As Moneyball hits theaters on September 23, I know awareness and appreciation for analytics will spike. The thought of the little guy being able to outmaneuver their stronger, better equipped opponent resonates with many people and relates
