9781422285237 - Analytics: Sports Stats & More

Hard at Work

CHAPTER 2

Sports analytics professional Ari Kaplan of Ariball.com recalls what happened to him after the Baltimore Orioles hired him in college. “When I was a teenager, [Orioles manager and Hall of Fame player] Frank Robinson was one of my first

bosses. Another was Roland Hemond, a general manager also honored by the Hall of Fame. It was great to work with such outstanding baseball people. One of the big honors I had was meeting Earl Weaver [pictured at left], the legendary manager who was one of the innovators in splits, which is the practice of looking at lefty-righty matchups [in determining batting order and which players would face which pitchers]. Weaver had these index cards he would bring into the dugout, so he was one of the first to do it. One of my first big honors was to computerize that entire methodology for the Orioles. I would then print it out for the coaches every day.”

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H ard at W ork