As an undergraduate, Nate Silver studied economics, but baseball was his first and enduring love. He soon earned a reputation as a formidable baseball statistical analyst. A disciple of Bill James, Silver’s remarkable PECOTA (Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm) system for predicting player performance, career development, and seasonal winners and losers has changed the way baseball-insiders and fans alike think about the game. In 2007 and 2008, Silver applied his statistical models to the presidential election and impressed the world of political polling with his uncannily accurate election forecasts. Silver continues to follow political races around the country in his FiveThirtyEight column for the New York Times. In this program, CHF asks Silver to share his insights and oversights about America’s greatest game. He might just talk about the election, too.
This program is presented as part of the annual Karla Scherer Endowed Lecture Series for the University of Chicago.
