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109-531: The Elias Sports Bureau is an American privately-held sports data company providing historical and current statistical information for the major professional sports leagues operating in the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 1913, Elias is considered a pioneering firm in the field of sports recordkeeping and has served as the longtime official statistician for Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and

218-426: A .200 average. The Cardinals won the 1946 Series when Enos Slaughter scored the go-ahead run all the way from first base on a base hit to left field. The throw from Leon Culberson was cut off by shortstop Johnny Pesky , who relayed the ball to the plate just a hair too late. Some say Pesky hesitated or "held the ball" before he turned to throw the ball, but this has been disputed. Along with Williams and Pesky,

327-758: A club record for 68 years. That year Foxx also set a club-record of 175 runs. In 1939, the Red Sox purchased the contract of outfielder Ted Williams from the minor league San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League , ushering in an era of the team sometimes called the "Ted Sox". Williams consistently hit for both high power and high average, and is generally considered one of the greatest hitters of all time. The right-field bullpens in Fenway were built in part for Williams' left-handed swing, and are sometimes called "Williamsburg". Before this addition, it

436-612: A dominant team in the new league, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903 and winning four more championships by 1918. However, they then went into one of the longest championship droughts in baseball history, dubbed the " Curse of the Bambino " after its alleged inception due to the Red Sox' sale of star player Babe Ruth to the rival New York Yankees two years after their World Series championship in 1918. The Sox endured an 86-year wait before

545-553: A fraction of the price that a big name pitcher may require. When Beane's Athletics began to achieve success, other major league teams took notice. The second team to adopt a similar approach was the Boston Red Sox , who in 2003 made Theo Epstein the interim general manager. Epstein, who remains the youngest general manager to ever be hired in MLB, came into the position without any professional playing experience, highly irregular at

654-508: A half-game lead for the final series of the season, but lost the first two of those three and were eliminated from the pennant race. The Red Sox won the AL pennant in 1975. The 1975 Red Sox were as colorful as they were talented, with Yastrzemski and rookie outfielders Jim Rice and Fred Lynn , veteran outfielder Dwight Evans , catcher Carlton Fisk , and pitchers Luis Tiant and eccentric junkballer Bill "The Spaceman" Lee . Fred Lynn won both

763-460: A largely analytical background when they hired assistant general manager Kyle Dubas in 2014. Dubas, similar to Theo Epstein in MLB, has never suited up in a professional game and relies on the numbers generated by players on a nightly basis both now and in the past to make decisions. The PGA Tour collects vast amounts of data throughout the season. These statistics track each shot a player takes in tournament play, collecting information on how far

872-502: A major professional sports record. Both Neil Diamond 's " Sweet Caroline " and the Standells ' " Dirty Water " have become anthems for the Red Sox. As of the end of the 2024 season, the franchise's all-time regular-season record is 9,955–9,263–83 (.518). The name Red Sox , chosen by owner John I. Taylor after the 1907 season, refers to the red hose in the team uniform beginning in 1908. Sox had been previously adopted for

981-585: A man on third in the top of the ninth, a spitball got away from Chesbro and Lou Criger scored the go-ahead run and the Americans won their second pennant. However, the NL champion New York Giants declined to play any postseason series , but a sharp public reaction led the two leagues to make the World Series a permanent championship, starting in 1905. In 1906 , Boston lost 105 games and finished last in

1090-602: A member club of the American League (AL) East Division . Founded in 1901 as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the team's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since 1912 . The "Red Sox" name was chosen by the team owner, John I. Taylor , c.  1908 , following the lead of previous teams that had been known as the " Boston Red Stockings ", including the Boston Braves (now

1199-471: A minimalist budget, Beane relied on sabermetrics , a form of sports analytics, to evaluate players and make personnel decisions. Understanding the importance of getting runners on base, Beane focussed on acquiring players with a high on base percentage with the logic that teams with a higher on base percentage are more likely to score runs. He was also able to achieve success on a shoestring budget by acquiring overlooked starting pitchers, often getting them for

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1308-472: A multi-channel sports media organization employing a team of statisticians and writers who publish New York Times Best Selling books and host weekly radio shows and podcasts . The MLB has set the benchmark in sports analytics for a number of years, with some of the game's brightest minds having never set foot into the heat of a major or minor league baseball game. Theo Epstein of the Chicago Cubs

1417-608: A non-musical stage play called My Lady Friends , which opened on Broadway in December 1919. According to the book, My Lady Friends had been financed by Ruth's sale to the Yankees. The sale of Babe Ruth came to be viewed as the beginning of the Yankees–Red Sox rivalry , considered the "best rivalry" by American sports journalists. In the December 1920, Wally Schang , Waite Hoyt , Harry Harper and Mike McNally were traded to

1526-453: A number of years, successfully betting against the line 56% (575–453) of the time in college football, a significant rate as a winning percentage above 52.4% is considered profitable. With the number of statistics so openly available to fans, Stoll combines a number of different statistics such as, home and away records, record vs divisional/non-divisional teams, rush yards per rush, etc., to make educated picks that have paid off more than half of

1635-620: A number of years. Collectively as a team the Spurs have honed in on the importance of the three pointer and as a result constantly rank among the league lead in three point attempts. The teams understanding of the importance of the "three" extends beyond the offensive side of the court as they are relentless at defending the three pointer in the defensive end of the court. In 2009 the Chicago Blackhawks turned to an outside company to produce analytical assessments for them. Subsequently,

1744-547: A pennant race against the New York Highlanders . A predecessor to what became a storied rivalry, this race featured the trade of Patsy Dougherty to the Highlanders for Bob Unglaub . In order to win the pennant, the Highlanders needed to win both games of their final doubleheader with the Americans at the Highlanders' home stadium, Hilltop Park . With Jack Chesbro on the mound, and the score tied 2–2 with

1853-572: A per-minute measurement to ensure that a player's incremental team contributions are measured irrespective of usage volume. In 2003, the sports analytics-focused website Football Outsiders pioneered football's first comprehensive advanced metric, DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average), which compares a player's success on each play to the league average based on a number of variables including down , distance, location on field, current score gap, quarter, and strength of opponent. Football Outsiders' work has since been widely cited by analytical members

1962-439: A semi-finalist in 2023 and 2024. After stepping down in 2019, Siwoff turned the company over to his grandson, Joe Gilston, who continues to serve as President. Gilston’s mission is to maintain the core company values of inclusion, accuracy, and accountability, while driving Elias’s modernization efforts. Elias receives daily game results directly from league offices. Elias scrubs the data, resolves any scoring issues, and archives

2071-517: A spectacular catch of a Joe Morgan line drive and doubled off Ken Griffey at first base to preserve the tie. In the bottom of the 12th inning, Carlton Fisk hit a deep fly ball that sliced towards the left-field foul pole above the Green Monster . As the ball sailed into the night, Fisk waved his arms frantically towards fair territory, seemingly pleading with the ball not to go foul. The ball complied, and bedlam ensued at Fenway as Fisk rounded

2180-479: Is also undergoing at Nagoya University to investigate the potential of using the defender-orientated ball recovery and being attacked as metrics, with it being used successfully with data from the Japanese J1 League to predict the strategies used by the teams. Many statisticians attribute the popularization of sports analytics to current Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane . Strapped with

2289-411: Is extremely popular among groups of all kinds, from avid sports fans to recreational gamblers, you would be hard pressed to find a professional sporting event with nothing riding on the results. Many gamblers are attracted to sports gambling because of the plethora of information and analytics that are at their disposal when making decisions. One gambler, Bob Stoll, has been ahead of the analytics curve for

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2398-655: Is now playing in Atlanta . In 1901, the upstart American League established a competing club in Boston. (Originally, a team was supposed to be started in Buffalo , but league ownership at the last minute removed that city from their plans in favor of the expansion Boston franchise.) For seven seasons, the AL team wore dark blue stockings and had no official nickname. They were simply "Boston", "Bostonians" or "the Bostons"; or

2507-637: Is often shortened to "Bosox" or "BoSox", a combination of "Boston" and "Sox" (similar to the "ChiSox" in Chicago or the minor league "WooSox" of Worcester, a minor league affiliate of Boston). Sportswriters sometimes refer to the Red Sox as the Crimson Hose and the Olde Towne Team . Recently, media have begun to call them the "Sawx" casually, reflecting how the word is pronounced with a New England accent . However, most fans simply refer to

2616-567: Is one of those minds who has never suited up in a professional baseball game; instead, Epstein relies on his Yale University education and the numbers behind the game to make many of his decisions. Epstein, known for his role in ending two of baseball's most famous streaks (the Boston Red Sox curse of the Great Bambino in 2004, and as recently as the 2016 World Series , helping end the 108-year drought between World Series wins for

2725-524: Is the best wing player in the NBA ?", etc. Off-field analytics deals with the business side of sports. Off-field analytics focuses on helping a sport organization or body surface patterns and insights through data that would help increase ticket and merchandise sales, improve fan engagement, etc. Off-field analytics essentially uses data to help rights-holders make decisions that would lead to higher growth and increased profitability. As technology has advanced over

2834-693: The Al Munro Elias Baseball Bureau, Inc. in New York City. The Bureau's methods of collection and presentation of statistics set the form and precedent for recording baseball information, and has influenced the universal collection and presentation of other sports’ leagues information ever since. At first, the Munro brothers sold printed scorecards with baseball data directly to fans. The Bureau's popularity surged in 1916, when The New York Telegram daily newspaper began publishing

2943-569: The Atlanta Braves ). The team has won nine World Series championships , tied for the third-most of any MLB team, and has played in 13 World Series. Their most recent World Series appearance and win was in 2018 . In addition, they won the 1904 American League pennant , but were not able to defend their 1903 World Series championship when the New York Giants refused to participate in the 1904 World Series . The Red Sox were

3052-467: The Chicago White Sox by newspapers needing a headline-friendly form of Stockings , as "Stockings Win!" in large type did not fit in a column. The team name "Red Sox" had previously been used as early as 1888 by a 'colored' team from Norfolk, Virginia. The Spanish language media sometimes refers to the team as Medias Rojas , a translation of "red socks". The official Spanish site uses

3161-681: The National Football League (NFL). Other notable clients include Major League Soccer (MLS), the WNBA , the NBA G League , and the PGA , and the company also serves as the official statistician for the WBC . In addition to its league clients, Elias also maintains relationships with major media clients including MLB Network , ESPN , The Sports Network , and CBSSports.com among others. In 1913 Al Munro Elias and his brother Walter founded

3270-540: The National Hockey League 's Pittsburgh Penguins and partially owns RFK Racing of the NASCAR Cup Series . They are consistently one of the top MLB teams in average road attendance, while the small capacity of Fenway Park prevents them from leading in overall attendance. From May 15, 2003, to April 10, 2013, the Red Sox sold out every home game—a total of 820 games (794 regular season) for

3379-568: The National League , then the only major league in baseball. Johnson had changed the name of the league to the American League prior to the 1900 season. In 1901, the league created a franchise in Boston, called the "Boston Americans", to compete with the National League team there. Playing their home games at Huntington Avenue Grounds , the Boston franchise finished second in the league in 1901 and third in 1902. The team

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3488-655: The strike zone hitters struggle with, so the pitcher can try to throw it to those spots of the strike zone to give themselves an advantage. In the early ages of basketball , the majority of shots were taken close to the basket. Now they NBA and other leagues have implemented a three-point line , allowing players to shoot from a further distance for 3 points instead of 2 points. For that reason, players have become multi-dimensional and more difficult to defend. The use of AI and analytics can show defenders how to guard certain players based on how well they shoot from three-point range. If they don't shoot well from three-point range, then

3597-403: The "Americans" or "Boston Americans" as in "American Leaguers", Boston being a two-team city. Their 1901–1907 jerseys, both home, and road, just read "Boston", except for 1902 when they sported large letters "B" and "A" denoting "Boston" and "American". Newspaper writers of the time used other nicknames for the club, including "Somersets" (for owner Charles Somers ), "Plymouth Rocks", "Beaneaters",

3706-468: The "Collinsites" (for manager Jimmy Collins )", and "Pilgrims". For years many sources have listed "Pilgrims" as the early Boston AL team's official nickname, but researcher Bill Nowlin has demonstrated that the name was barely used, if at all, during the team's early years. The origin of the nickname appears to be a poem entitled "The Pilgrims At Home" written by Edwin Fitzwilliam that was sung at

3815-402: The 1870 season, Wright was hired by Boston businessman Ivers Whitney Adams to organize a new team in Boston, and he brought three teammates and the "Red Stockings" nickname along. (Most nicknames were then unofficial—neither club names nor registered trademarks—so the migration was informal.) The Boston Red Stockings won four championships in the five seasons of the new National Association ,

3924-506: The 1907 home opener ("Rory O'More" melody). This nickname was commonly used during that season, perhaps because the team had a new manager and several rookie players. John I. Taylor had said in December 1907 that the Pilgrims "sounded too much like homeless wanderers." The National League club in Boston, though seldom called the "Red Stockings" anymore, still wore red trim. In 1907, the National League club adopted an all-white uniform, and

4033-537: The 1915 season, Tris Speaker was traded to the Cleveland Indians . The Red Sox went on to win the 1916 World Series , defeating the Brooklyn Robins . Harry Frazee bought the Red Sox from Joseph Lannin in 1916 for about $ 675,000. In 1918, Babe Ruth led the team to another World Series championship over the Chicago Cubs . Prior to the sale of Babe Ruth, multiple trades occurred between

4142-478: The 1975 World Series, "We won that thing 3 games to 4." In 1978, the Red Sox and the Yankees were involved in a tight pennant race. The Yankees were 14 + 1 ⁄ 2 games behind the Red Sox in July, and on September 10, after completing a 4-game sweep of the Red Sox (known as "The Boston Massacre"), the Yankees tied for the divisional lead. On September 16 the Yankees held a 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 game lead over

4251-741: The AL East for the first time in 11 seasons, and faced the California Angels in the ALCS . The teams split the first two games in Boston, but the Angels won the next two home games, taking a 3–1 lead in the series. With the Angels poised to win the series, the Red Sox trailed 5–2 heading into the ninth inning of Game 5. A two-run homer by Baylor cut the lead to one. With two outs and a runner on, and one strike away from elimination, Dave Henderson homered off Donnie Moore to put Boston up 6–5. Although

4360-490: The AL pennant race until almost the last game. The BoSox had finished the 1966 season in ninth place, but they found new life with Yastrzemski as the team won the pennant to reach the 1967 World Series . Yastrzemski won the American League Triple Crown (the most recent player to accomplish such a feat until Miguel Cabrera did so in 2012), hitting .326 with 44 home runs and 121 runs batted in . He

4469-755: The Al Munro Elias Baseball Bureau after the death of Walter Elias in 1949. Goodman managed the business on behalf of the Elias brothers’ widows until his passing in 1952. That same year, Seymour Siwoff, who had joined the company in 1937 as an intern while studying at St. John's University, purchased the Al Munro Elias Baseball Bureau from the Elias's widows. Siwoff renamed the company the Elias Sports Bureau to better fulfill his vision of incorporating all professional sports, and served as company president for 67 years. Under Siwoff,

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4578-688: The American League Rookie of the Year award and the Most Valuable Player award, a feat which had never previously been accomplished, and was not duplicated until Ichiro Suzuki did it in 2001. In the 1975 American League Championship Series , the Red Sox swept the Oakland A's . In the 1975 World Series , they faced the heavily favored Cincinnati Reds , also known as The Big Red Machine . Luis Tiant won games 1 and 4 of

4687-412: The American League team saw an opportunity. On December 18, 1907, Taylor announced that the club had officially adopted red as its new team color. The 1908 uniforms featured a large icon of a red stocking angling across the shirt front. For 1908, the National League club returned to wearing red trim, but the American League team finally had an official nickname and remained the "Red Sox" for good. The name

4796-555: The Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox won in the eleventh on a Henderson sacrifice fly off Moore. The Red Sox then found themselves with six- and seven-run wins at Fenway Park in Games 6 and 7 to win the American League title. The Red Sox faced a heavily favored New York Mets team that had won 108 games in the regular season in the 1986 World Series . Boston won the first two games in Shea Stadium but lost

4905-616: The Astros have begun to use analytics to make decisions on how they will play on the field, "applying the defensive shift more than any other team in the MLB last season." Using this approach, the Houston Astros captured their first World Series victory in franchise history in 2017 . One of the early adopters of SportVU , the San Antonio Spurs have been using analytics to gain a competitive advantage on opponents for

5014-540: The Blackhawks have achieved unparalleled success in the NHL, winning three Stanley Cups in six seasons. With this success has come a number of difficult decisions for Blackhawks management as they are often only able to hang onto a core group of players following each cup run, while other key players receive offers that the Blackhawks simply cannot match under the NHL's salary cap. However, by using this analytics based system,

5123-411: The Blackhawks who provide yet another example of the longevity that can be associated with analytic base decision making. Sports analytics have had significant impact on the field of play but sports analytics have also contributed to the growing industry of sports gambling, which accounts for approximately 13% of the global gambling industry. Valued somewhere between $ 700–$ 1,000 billion, sports gambling

5232-454: The Bureau's weekly compilation of batting and pitching averages and league leaders. In 1916, Elias was named the official statistician of the National League and International League (the minor league baseball circuit), with the American League and other minor leagues following shortly thereafter. In 1937, the Bureau took over the publication of Charley White's Record Book, also known as

5341-508: The Chicago Cubs), is a member of a growing community in major league baseball who do not rely on years of major league playing experience. This community has been able to grow thanks to the in-depth collection of statistics that has existed in baseball for decades. With analytics being relatively common in MLB, there is a breadth of statistics that have become vital in the analysis of the game, which include: Houston Rockets ' Daryl Morey

5450-928: The General Manager of the Rockets decided to emphasize three point shots and used analytics to support his argument. As a result, the Rockets began shooting many more three-point shots and even traded their budding big man, Clint Capela. The success of analytic based strategies and decision making in baseball was noted by executives in other professional sports leagues. Today, almost every professional organization has least one analytical expert on staff, if not an entire department dedicated to analytics. The Astros rely heavily on analytics when making decisions. The team has employees with titles such as, director of decision sciences, medical risk manager and mathematic modeler. Unlike other professional teams who typically use analytics solely for player transactions and signings,

5559-507: The Keyboard", and his relationship with the fans was often rocky as he was seen spitting towards the stands on more than one occasion. With Williams, the Red Sox reached the 1946 World Series but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in part because of the use of the "Williams Shift", a defensive tactic in which the shortstop moves to the right side of the infield to make it harder for

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5668-478: The Mets, Johnson tasked a team employee with writing a dBASE II application to run sophisticated statistical models in order to better understand the capabilities and tendencies of the team's opponents. By the close of the twentieth century, sports analytics had gained significant acceptance by the management of many Major League Baseball clubs, notably the Oakland A's , Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians . At

5777-480: The Red Sox and the Yankees. On December 18, 1918, outfielder Duffy Lewis , pitcher Dutch Leonard and pitcher Ernie Shore were traded to the Yankees for pitcher Ray Caldwell , Slim Love , Roxy Walters , Frank Gilhooley and $ 15,000. In July 1919, pitcher Carl Mays quit the team and then was traded to the Yankees for Bob McGraw, Allan Russell and $ 40,000. After Mays was traded, league president Ban Johnson suspended him due to his breaking of his contract with

5886-725: The Red Sox beat the New York Giants 4–3–1 in the 1912 World Series best known for Snodgrass's Muff . From 1913 to 1916, the Red Sox were owned by Joseph Lannin . In 1914, Lannin signed a young up-and-coming pitcher named Babe Ruth from the Baltimore Orioles of the International League . In 1915, the team won 101 games and went on to the 1915 World Series , where they beat the Philadelphia Phillies four games to one. Following

5995-470: The Red Sox featured several other star players during the 1940s, including second baseman Bobby Doerr and center fielder Dom DiMaggio (the younger brother of Joe DiMaggio ). The Red Sox narrowly lost the AL pennant in 1948 and 1949. In 1948, Boston finished in a tie with Cleveland , and their loss to Cleveland in a one-game playoff ended hopes of an all-Boston World Series. Curiously, manager Joseph McCarthy chose journeyman Denny Galehouse to start

6104-521: The Red Sox, but the Sox won 11 of their next 13 games and by the final day of the season, the Yankees' magic number to win the division was one—with a win over Cleveland or a Boston loss to the Toronto Blue Jays clinching the division. However, New York lost 9–2 and Boston won 5–0, forcing a one-game playoff to be held at Fenway Park on Monday, October 2. The most remembered moment from the game

6213-413: The Red Sox, though 1961 saw the debut of Carl "Yaz" Yastrzemski , Williams' replacement in left field, who developed into one of the better hitters of a pitching-rich decade. Red Sox fans know 1967 as the season of the "Impossible Dream". The slogan refers to the hit song from the popular musical play " Man of La Mancha ". 1967 saw one of the great pennant races in baseball history with four teams in

6322-404: The Red Sox. The Yankees went to court after Johnson suspended Mays. After the Yankees were able to play Mays, the American League split into two factions: the Yankees, Red Sox and White Sox, known as the "Insurrectos", versus Johnson and the remaining five clubs, a.k.a. the "Loyal Five". On December 26, 1919, the team sold Babe Ruth, who had played the previous six seasons for the Red Sox, to

6431-420: The World Series but after five games, the Red Sox trailed the series 3 games to 2. Game 6 at Fenway Park is considered among the greatest games in postseason history. Down 6–3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Red Sox pinch hitter Bernie Carbo hit a three-run homer into the center field bleachers off Reds fireman Rawly Eastwick to tie the game. In the top of the 11th inning, right fielder Dwight Evans made

6540-502: The Yankees edge the St. Louis Browns in a tight pennant race. After late trades in 1922, a June 15 trading deadline went into effect. In 1923, Herb Pennock was traded by the Red Sox to the Yankees for Camp Skinner, Norm McMillan, and George Murray . The loss of several top players sent the Red Sox into free fall. During the 1920s and early 1930s, the Red Sox were fixtures in the second division, never finishing closer than 20 games out of first. The losses increased after Frazee sold

6649-572: The Yankees for Del Pratt , Muddy Ruel , Hank Thormahlen, Sammy Vick. The following winter, shortstop Everett Scott , and pitchers Bullet Joe Bush and Sad Sam Jones were traded to the Yankees for Roger Peckinpaugh , who was immediately traded to the Washington Senators , Jack Quinn , Rip Collins , Bill Piercy. On July 23, 1922, Joe Dugan and Elmer Smith were traded to the Yankees for Elmer Miller, Chick Fewster, Johnny Mitchell , and Lefty O'Doul . Acquiring Dugan helped

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6758-514: The age of 38 in 1957, but there was little else for Boston fans to root for. Williams retired at the end of the 1960 season , famously hitting a home run in his final at-bat as memorialized in the John Updike story "Hub fans bid Kid adieu." The Red Sox finally became the last Major League team to field an African American player when they promoted infielder Pumpsie Green from their AAA farm team in 1959. The 1960s also started poorly for

6867-433: The article He Does It By The Numbers by Daniel Okrent (1981). In 1984, New York Mets manager Davey Johnson became the first known member of a known sports organization to advocate for the use of sports analytics. During his time with the Baltimore Orioles , Johnson had tried to convince the organization to use his FORTRAN baseball computer simulation to determine the team's optimal starting lineup. As manager of

6976-660: The ball travels and exactly where each shot is played from and where it finishes. These data have been used for a number of years by players and their coaches during practice sessions as well as during tournament preparation, highlighting the areas in which that player needs to improve before teeing it up in tournament play. Soccer uses tracking data, such as the positional data of the players and ball, for teams to obtain information about players’ conditioning. This data has also been used for evaluating attacking performance to estimate goals scored using Artificial Intelligence . Other approaches have included dribbling and passing. Research

7085-465: The bases to win the game for the Red Sox 7–6. The Red Sox lost game 7, 4–3 even though they had an early 3–0 lead. Starting pitcher Bill Lee threw a slow looping curve which he called a "Leephus pitch" or "space ball" to Reds first baseman Tony Pérez who hit the ball over the Green Monster and across the street. The Reds scored the winning run in the 9th inning. Carlton Fisk said famously about

7194-668: The bottom of the 10th, a graphic appeared on the NBC telecast hailing Barrett as the Player of the Game and Bruce Hurst as Most Valuable Player of the World Series. A message even appeared briefly on the Shea Stadium scoreboard congratulating the Red Sox as World Series champions. After so many years of abject frustration, Red Sox fans around the world could taste victory. With the count at two balls and one strike, Mets catcher Gary Carter hit

7303-466: The certified data for instant access. Official league data is then used to provide the following services: Sports statistics There are two key aspects of sports analytics—on-field and off-field analytics. On-field analytics deals with improving the on-field performance of teams and players, including questions such as "which player on the Red Sox contributed most to the team's offense?" or "who

7412-506: The collection, synthesis, and dissemination of advanced metrics to pro and college basketball organizations, sports media members, and fans. North Carolina , under coach Frank McGuire , was the first known basketball organization to utilize advanced possession metrics to gain a competitive advantage. Since then, sports analytics enthusiasts in basketball have created weighted statistics that measure each player and each team's on-court efficiency. Most basketball-specific advanced metrics feature

7521-660: The company grew into the world’s most trusted source for sports data. Elias became the official statisticians of the NFL in 1961 and the NBA in 1970. Elias was later named the founding statistician for MLS and the WNBA in 1993 and 1997, respectively — both partnerships that endure to the present day. Elias also became official statistician of the NHL in 1997, although the league now complies its official statistics internally. Still today, Elias remains

7630-490: The company." In the early ages of baseball , hitters had no insight on pitchers' pitch sequence tendencies and spin rate . In today's game, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics now shows hitters spin rate and pitch sequence information before the game. For the other side of this, it can also benefit the pitcher. As in today's game, AI and analytics can help the pitcher by showing which pitches are weaknesses of certain hitters. It can also show which parts of

7739-629: The defender can back off and allow the shot. AI and analytics has also had a big impact on coaching. Late game scenarios, timeout usage, and defensive strategy, and player impact are examples of this. Certain teams in the NBA have coaches whose primary focus is on data and analytics to assist the head coach on making in-game adjustments. Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston . The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as

7848-422: The difference in the Yankees' 5–4 win, which ended with Yastrzemski popping out to Graig Nettles in foul territory with Rick Burleson representing the tying run at third. Although Dent became a Red Sox demon, the Red Sox got retribution in 1990 when the Yankees fired Dent as their manager during a series at Fenway Park. Carl Yastrzemski retired after the 1983 season, during which the Red Sox finished sixth in

7957-778: The driving forces for the use of sports analytics in the NFL has been the growth of fantasy football . Fantasy sports writer C. D. Carter and peers at XN Sports, NumberFire , and the long-form fantasy football analysis site, Rotoviz.com, have established an informal subculture of fantasy football sports writers who refer to themselves as "degens". The degen movement is responsible for the creation of numerous American football efficiency metrics that better explain past football performances and attempt to predict future player production. Height-adjusted Speed Score, College Dominator Rating, Target Premium, Catch Radius, Net Expected Points (NEP), and Production Premium were recently created and disseminated by degen writers and mathematicians. Building on

8066-399: The first professional league. When a new Cincinnati club was formed as a charter member of the National League in 1876, the "Red Stockings" nickname was commonly reserved for them once again, and the Boston team was referred to as the "Red Caps". Other names were sometimes used before Boston officially adopted the nickname "Braves" in 1912; the club eventually left Boston for Milwaukee and

8175-401: The first starting pitcher to win both awards since Vida Blue in 1971. Despite spending a month and a half on the disabled list in the middle of the season, left-hander Bruce Hurst went 13–8, striking out 167 and pitching four shutout games. Boston sportswriters that season compared Clemens and Hurst to Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax from the 1960s Los Angeles Dodgers . The Red Sox won

8284-674: The first team to win four World Series trophies in the 21st century, with championships in 2004 , 2007 , 2013 and 2018 . The team's history has also been marked by the team's intense rivalry with the New York Yankees , arguably the fiercest and most historic in North American professional sports . The Red Sox are owned by Fenway Sports Group , which also owns Liverpool of the Premier League in England,

8393-531: The future performance of an individual player, the Speed Score , which he referenced in a piece written for Pro Football Prospectus . After analyzing data pertaining to running back success, Barnwell discovered that the most successful running backs at the NFL level were both fast and heavy, therefore, Speed Score weights 40-yard dash times by assigning a premium to bigger, often stronger, running backs. One of

8502-536: The impact of sponsorship on each team as well as its fans. Another significant impact sports analytics has had on professional sports is in relation to sports betting . In-depth sports analytics has taken sports gambling to new levels; whether it be fantasy sports leagues or nightly wagers, bettors now have more information at their disposal to help aid decision making than ever before. A number of companies and webpages have been developed to help provide fans with up-to-date information for their betting needs. Baseball

8611-456: The last number of years, data collection has become more in-depth and can be conducted with relative ease. Advancements in data collection have allowed for sports analytics to grow as well, leading to the development of advanced statistics and machine learning, as well as sport specific technologies that allow for things like game simulations to be conducted by teams prior to play, improve fan acquisition and marketing strategies, and even understand

8720-517: The late 1940s had retired or been traded. The stark contrast in the team led critics to call the Red Sox' daily lineup "Ted Williams and the Seven Dwarfs". Jackie Robinson was even worked out by the team at Fenway Park, however, owner Tom Yawkey did not want an African American player on his team. Willie Mays also tried out for Boston and was highly praised by team scouts. In 1955, Frank Malzone debuted at third base and Ted Williams hit .388 at

8829-527: The late 1960s and early 1970s, they never finished higher than second place in their division. The closest they came to a divisional title was 1972 when they lost by a half-game to the Detroit Tigers . The start of the season was delayed by a players' strike, and the Red Sox had lost one more game to the strike than the Tigers had. Games lost to the strike were not made up. The Red Sox went to Detroit with

8938-551: The leading sports statistics source for newspapers, magazines, websites, and sports broadcasters across the country. Seymour was inducted into the New York Sports Hall of Fame in 1992 for Elias’s contribution to the growth in popularity of sports through statistics and recordkeeping. Posthumously, Siwoff was named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2020, and was again named

9047-550: The league. In December 1907, Taylor proposed that the Boston Americans name change to the Boston Red Sox. By 1909, center fielder Tris Speaker had become a fixture in the Boston outfield, and the team finished the season in third place. In 1912 , the Red Sox won 105 games and the pennant. The 105 wins stood as the club record until the 2018 club won 108. Anchored by an outfield including Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper and Duffy Lewis , and pitcher Smoky Joe Wood ,

9156-467: The left-handed-hitting Williams to hit to that side of the field. Some have claimed that he was too proud to hit to the other side of the field, not wanting to let the Cardinals take away his game. His performance may have also been affected by a pitch he took in the elbow in an exhibition game a few days earlier. Either way, in his only World Series, Williams gathered just five singles in 25 at-bats for

9265-442: The next two at Fenway, knotting the series at two games apiece. After Bruce Hurst recorded his second victory of the series in Game 5, the Red Sox returned to Shea Stadium looking to garner their first championship in 68 years. However, Game 6 became one of the most devastating losses in club history. After pitching seven strong innings, Clemens was lifted from the game with a 3–2 lead. Years later, Manager John McNamara said Clemens

9374-465: The playoff game when the young lefty phenom Mel Parnell was available to pitch. In 1949, the Red Sox were one game ahead of the New York Yankees , with the only two games left for both teams being against each other, and they lost both of those games. The 1950s were viewed as a time of tribulation for the Red Sox. After Williams returned from the Korean War in 1953, many of the best players from

9483-486: The rival New York Yankees. The sale was announced on January 6, 1920. In 1919, Ruth had broken the single-season home run record, hitting 29 home runs. It was believed that Frazee sold Ruth to finance the Broadway musical No, No, Nanette . While No, No, Nanette did not open on Broadway until 1925, Leigh Montville's book, The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth , reports that No, No, Nanette had originated as

9592-589: The same time, baseball fans and sports media had begun to adopt sports analytics as a way to understand and report the game. In 1996, Baseball Prospectus sought to build upon Bill James' work when it launched the Baseball Prospectus website in order to present sabermetric research and related findings as well as publish advanced metrics such as EqA , the Davenport Translations (DT's) , and VORP . Baseball Prospectus has grown into

9701-501: The seven-team AL East, posting their worst record since 1966. However, in 1986, it appeared that the team's fortunes were about to change. The offense had remained strong with Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Don Baylor and Wade Boggs . Roger Clemens led the pitching staff, going 24–4 with a 2.48 ERA , and had a 20-strikeout game to win both the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards. Clemens became

9810-426: The sports media establishment. A few years later, Pro Football Focus launched a comprehensive statistical database , which soon featured a sophisticated player grading system. Advanced Football Analytics (originally Advanced NFL Stats) has its EPA (expected points added) and WPA (win probability added) for NFL players. Grantland lead football writer Bill Barnwell created the first metrics focused on predicting

9919-462: The team as the "Sox" when the context is understood to mean Red Sox. The formal name of the entity which owns the team is "Boston Red Sox Baseball Club Limited Partnership". The name shown on a door near the main entrance to Fenway Park, "Boston American League Baseball Company", was used prior to the team's reorganization as a limited partnership on May 26, 1978. In 1901, the minor Western League, led by Ban Johnson , declared itself to be equal to

10028-407: The team has continuously been able to fill these gaps by finding players who are undervalued by other teams but will fit well with the Blackhawks' style of play. Many times, a team put together like this will seem underwhelming but perform higher than expectations. This strategy could be adopted by teams with limited financial freedom to put together a competitive team. This process has been refined by

10137-451: The team to Bob Quinn in 1923. The team bottomed out in 1932 with a record of 43–111, still the worst record in franchise history. However, in 1931, Earl Webb set the all-time mark for most doubles in a season with 67. In 1933, Tom Yawkey bought the team. Yawkey acquired pitchers Wes Ferrell and Lefty Grove , Joe Cronin , a shortstop and manager, and first baseman Jimmie Foxx . In 1938, Foxx hit 50 home runs, which stood as

10246-511: The team won their first American League pennant and, as a result, Boston participated in the first modern World Series , going up against the Pittsburgh Pirates . Aided by the modified chants of " Tessie " by the Royal Rooters fan club and by its stronger pitching staff, the Americans won the best-of-nine series five games to three. In April 1904, the team was purchased by John I. Taylor of Boston. The 1904 team found itself in

10355-401: The team's sixth World Series championship in 2004 . The team's history during that period was punctuated with some of the most memorable moments in World Series history, including Enos Slaughter 's " mad dash " in 1946 , the " Impossible Dream " of 1967 , Carlton Fisk 's home run in 1975 , and Bill Buckner 's error in 1986 . Following their victory in the 2018 World Series , they became

10464-599: The time. Results from academic research show evidence that Twitter contains enough information to be useful for predicting outcomes in football games. With the popularity of sports gambling came the development of a number of sports betting services. "Sports betting services are provided by companies such as William Hill, Ladbrokes, bet365, bwin, Paddy Power, betfair, Unibet and many more through their websites and in many cases betting shops. In 2012, William Hill generated around 2 billion U.S. dollars in revenue with about 30 billion U.S. dollars in total being staked / wagered with

10573-512: The time. Using a similar approach to that of Billy Beane, Epstein was able to form a Boston Red Sox team that in 2004, won the organization's first World Series in 86 years, breaking the alleged Curse of the Bambino . Many experts attribute some of Epstein's success to Boston Red Sox owner, John W. Henry , who achieved significant success in the investments industry by using data-based decision making. As owner, Henry provided Epstein with significant leeway when it came to data-based decision making and

10682-490: The use of sabermetrics, as he knew the impact that such tools can have in achieving success in both sports and business. Since his success in Boston, Epstein had moved on to Chicago, where in 2016 he led the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series title in 108 years. More recently, teams like the Houston Rockets of the NBA have put a heavy focus on analytics to dictate front office and on-court decisions. Daryl Morey,

10791-491: The variant "Los Red Sox". The Red Stockings nickname was previously used by the Cincinnati Red Stockings , who were members of the pioneering National Association of Base Ball Players . Managed by Harry Wright , Cincinnati adopted a uniform with white knickers and red stockings and earned the famous nickname, a year or two before hiring the first fully professional team in 1869. When the club folded after

10900-417: The work of these writers, sites such as PlayerProfiler.com distill a wide variety of established advanced metrics into a single player snapshot designed to be palatable to the casual sports fan. The NHL has kept statistics since its inception, yet it is a relatively new adopter of analytics -based decision making. The Toronto Maple Leafs were the first team in the NHL to hire a member of management with

11009-509: The youngest player in Major League Baseball to hit his 100th home run, a record that stands today. He was struck just above the left cheek bone by a fastball thrown by Jack Hamilton of the California Angels on Friday, August 18, 1967, and sat out the entire next season with headaches and blurred vision. Although he did have a productive season in 1970, he was never the same. Although the Red Sox were competitive for much of

11118-517: The “Little Red Book”, shortly after White’s passing. The Little Red Book was an official source for major league records and statistics used by sportswriters , club and league officials, players, and sports fans. Upon Al’s passing in 1938, Walter Elias became President of the Al Munro Elias Baseball Bureau and began publishing The Pocket Cyclopedia of Major League Baseball, the successor to the Little Red Book. Lester Goodman assumed control of

11227-418: Was Bucky Dent 's 7th inning three-run home run in off Mike Torrez just over the Green Monster, giving the Yankees their first lead. The dejected Boston manager, Don Zimmer , gave Mr. Dent a new middle name which lives on in Boston sports lore to this day, uttering three words as the ball sailed over the left-field wall: "Bucky Fucking Dent!" Reggie Jackson provided a solo home run in the 8th that proved to be

11336-433: Was named the league's Most Valuable Player, just one vote shy of a unanimous selection as a Minnesota sportswriter placed Twins center fielder César Tovar first on his ballot. But the Red Sox lost the series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson stymied the Red Sox, winning three games. An 18-year-old Bostonian rookie named Tony Conigliaro slugged 24 home runs in 1964. "Tony C" became

11445-432: Was one of the first sports to embrace sports analytics with Earnshaw Cook publishing Percentage Baseball in 1964. This was the first publication citing sports analytics to garner national media attention. In 1981, Bill James helped bring SABR (Society for American Baseball Research), one of the leading sports analytical organizations for baseball, into national prominence when Sports Illustrated featured James in

11554-421: Was originally owned by C.W. Somers . In January 1902, he sold all but one share of the team to Henry Killilea . The early teams were led by manager and star third baseman Jimmy Collins , outfielders Chick Stahl , Buck Freeman , and Patsy Dougherty , and pitcher Cy Young , who in 1901 won the pitching Triple Crown with 33 wins (41.8% of the team's 79 wins), 1.62 ERA and 158 strikeouts. In 1903,

11663-612: Was over 400 feet (120 m) to right field. He served two stints in the United States Marine Corps as a pilot and saw active duty in both World War II and the Korean War , missing at least five full seasons of baseball. His book The Science of Hitting is widely read by students of baseball. He is currently the last player to hit over .400 for a full season, batting .406 in 1941. Williams feuded with sports writers his whole career, calling them "The Knights of

11772-470: Was suffering from a blister and asked to be taken out of the game, a claim Clemens denied. The Mets then scored a run off reliever and former Met Calvin Schiraldi to tie the score 3–3. The game went to extra innings, where the Red Sox took a 5–3 lead in the top of the 10th on a solo home run by Henderson, a double by Boggs and an RBI single by second baseman Marty Barrett . After recording two outs in

11881-524: Was the first NBA general manager to implement advanced metrics as a key aspect of player evaluation. In the years that followed Morey's hiring, the NBA moved quickly to adopt advanced metrics-based player evaluation practices. In 2012, John Hollinger left ESPN to become VP of Basketball Operations for the Memphis Grizzlies . Beyond professional basketball front offices, major sports media websites such as Basketball Reference are dedicated to

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