Crooks , Slayton and Burbridge trace the development of technology and quantitative analysis on the trading of stocks, bonds, derivatives, currency and commodities. They also discuss the potential impact and chaos that can occur when unforeseen events are not anticipated by computerized algoritms that initiate trades in the various markets.  

Burbridge discussed the past and present of sabermetrics and the current importance of analytics in baseball. He finalized his talk by discussing the research projects the students in the upper level GST course, Baseball and Statistics, are currently involved with.

The lecture was titled “Economics of Professional Sports, Collective Bargaining Agreements, and Constraints on Player Pay.” Burbridge discussed the history of the various sports and how their collective bargaining agreements evolved over time.

Their research was completed this past spring semester as part of the requirements in the Advanced General Studies course “Baseball and Statistics.” They were aided in their research by Stephen Fales ’11 who also graduated. Petitti was an economics major while Iszard was a business administration major with a management concentration.  

John Harris, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, was also involved in developing the material. Doby was the second African-American to play major league baseball, signing with the Cleveland Indians 11 weeks after the debut of Jackie Robinson. Doby was also the second African-American to manage in the major leagues.

The business of baseball was changed dramatically when the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants moved to the West Coast in 1957. Prior to moving to Los Angeles, the Dodgers played seven games in Jersey City in each of the 1956 and 1957 seasons. What was the role of Jersey City as Walter O’Malley, principal owner of the Dodgers, and Robert Moses, possibly the most powerful man in New York City, negotiated to keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn?

That’s just one question Burbridge explores in the article.