The UW Now Livestream: Baseball and Big Data in Sports

Get the inside scoop on the future of baseball — and on what it’s like to own a sports franchise — from the person who knows it best: Bud Selig ’56. Live from Scottsdale, Arizona, Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association CEO Mike Knetter hosts a discussion about baseball and data with guests Selig, the former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and commissioner emeritus of Major League Baseball; Laura Albert, a UW professor of systems engineering; and Lewis Wolfe ’56, former chair of the Oakland A’s baseball team, former co-owner of the Saint Louis Blues hockey team, and former co-owner of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors basketball team. Selig talks about his personal history and how he came to own the Brewers, and he describes his experience as commissioner. Wolfe tells his personal story, describing his time as a UW student, his friendship with Selig, and how he came to own major sports franchises. He also discusses how the A’s became a leader in applying data to player evaluation. Albert talks about the nature of data and how she applies data analysis to sports, including her “bracketology” website, which she uses to introduce students to statistics and math.