Numbers Never Lie: An Observation on Sports and Analytics (68K PDF file)
By John Healy,
Vistaar Technologies, October 2009
As a businessman and avid sports enthusiast, it recently occurred to me that my job and my passion have something in common. While watching the baseball playoffs, and also speaking to companies who are now looking to close out their final quarter of 2009, I realized that successful organizations in sports and in other industries are increasingly turning to analytics to improve their performance.
Over the last decade, analytics has become more important in sports, especially baseball. In 2003 the bestseller “Moneyball” chronicled how the Oakland A’s use advanced analytics to improve their chances of winning talent against competitors that seemingly have unlimited funds to purchase the biggest names in the game. Early work conducted by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) in the 1970s has evolved into the current study of “sabermetrics”. According to Wikipedia “… Sabermetrics is the analysis of baseball through objective evidence, especially statistics.” Red Sox Sr. Advisor of Baseball Operations, Bill James, who is widely considered the “father of sabermetrics” has been praised for his role in their recent post season successes - including winning the 2004 and 2007 world series.
