Here at Informatica, we tend to look at a data strategy as having many components.

And this has led to a new focus on integrity and fraud avoidance. And when someone might be spending hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to purchase a card, the stakes have become very high. One estimate puts the current total market for sports memorabilia at $26.1B (yes, billion) and targeted to grow to over $200 billion by 2032. But I will discuss sports cards to illustrate how master data management, data quality and analytics have transformed the hobby of collecting sports memorabilia. We will not attempt to cover the entire category of all sports memorabilia (that could take several blogs). He’s the author of the Baseball Abstract, published in 1986 and the creator of the term sabermetrics (Society for American Baseball Research), which he defined as “the search for objective knowledge about baseball.” (And to Brad Pitt playing Billy Beane in the 2011 film based on the book.)Īnd you can’t mention analytics in sports without giving a significant nod to Bill James. This analytics-based approach led the A’s to the playoffs in 20. Brand helps Beane understand that there were a significant number of players who were undervalued, yet who could produce as well as more expensive players. Taking a somewhat radical approach to change the team’s outlook and bottom line, Beane recruited a wunderkind, Peter Brand.

In case you haven’t read it, Moneyball tells how Oakland A’s manager Billy Beane - after a heartbreaking loss to the well-funded, star-packed New York Yankees in the 2001 American League Division Series - realizes that he needs a way to do more with less. In 2003, Michael Lewis published Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. But for the average collector, it wasn’t clear how to get the answers. And in all that time, they have undoubtedly argued these questions. Kids (and adults) have been collecting memorabilia (sports cards, signed pictures, used game equipment, jerseys and more) for more than 100 years.

How can data or statistics objectively support that point?.

The same evening that I shot this picture, it struck me that the memorabilia industry was entirely related to data:

I was able to see this same card in a display case from only a few feet away and snapped the picture here. 1 The amount is rather remarkable, especially when you consider that the buyer was purchasing a piece of (admittedly very well preserved and professionally graded) cardboard.Ī month before this auction took place, I attended the National Sports Card Convention. It sold to a determined bidder through an auction run by Heritage Auctions. A few weeks ago, a Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card (manufactured by Topps in 1952) sold for $12.6 million, setting a new record for sports collectibles.

Baseball card database program