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Elias Sports Bureau Died: Seymour Siwoff Wiki, Bio, Age, Net Worth, Cause of death, Twitter & More Facts

Seymour Siwoff Wiki

Seymour Siwoff was born on Nov. 9, 1920, in Brooklyn to Jack and Ida Siwoff and grew up in the Brighton Beach section. His father made women’s shoes.

Seymour Siwoff Sports Bureau from Manhattan was 91 years old. Seymour Siwoff, a pioneer in bringing statistical analysis to the sports world who chronicled feats from the epic to the arcane through seven decades as the head of the Elias Sports Bureau, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan.

Seymour Siwoff Early Life

In his early years at Elias, he delivered updated statistics for the major leagues’ batting and pitching leaders to New York newspapers and wire services like The Associated Press after the bureau combed through daily box scores.

Long after his data was computerized, Mr. Siwoff retained something of an old-time aura.

 

Sad News Death confirmed

Seymour Siwoff’s death was confirmed by his grandson Joe Gilston, whose Joseph Gilston Trust took over Elias in March, purchasing 100 percent of its stock.

Seymour Siwoff Cause of death

In keeping with Siwoff’s penchant for detail, he died at his home in Manhattan at 12:57 p.m. EST, according to grandson Joe Gilston, who took control of the company in March when 100 percent of Elias’ stock was bought by The Joseph Gilston Trust. Siwoff still went to the office regularly until a few months ago, Gilston said.

Seymour Siwoff Start of career baseball

In 1975 Mr. Siwoff began publishing The Player Analysis, printouts weighing some 40 pounds, for about a half-dozen major league baseball teams. The teams paid Elias to assess each of their players’ performances in a host of situations.

From 1985 to 1993, Elias put out a successor publication, the annual Elias Baseball Analyst, which was sold to the public. It has long issued The Elias Book of Baseball Records, an annual publication also available for purchase.

Seymour Siwoff Sports Bureau Career

Elias was started in 1913 by brothers Al Munro Elias and Walter Bruce Elias and became official statistician of baseball’s National League in 1919. It is now the official statistician for MLB, NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLS and the NBA G-League.

Until then, Mr. Siwoff had since 1952 been the president and chief executive of Elias, the official record-keeper for America’s major professional sports leagues. In recent years the bureau’s day-to-day operations had been overseen by Steve Hirdt, the executive director, but Mr. Siwoff remained a presence in its Manhattan office until just a few months ago.

 

Sports Bureau Company And Seymour Siwoff

After the Elias brothers died in the 1940s, the company was managed by Lester Goodman. Seymour Siwoff, who had worked for the Elias brothers as a high school student before serving his country in World War II and earning the Purple Heart, returned to become the company’s accountant. In 1952, after Lester Goodman’s sudden death, Seymour Siwoff purchased the company from the widows of the Elias brothers. The new company was renamed Elias Sports Bureau to better fulfill Siwoff’s vision of incorporating all professional sports, and Siwoff took the company into the computer age.

Under Siwoff’s leadership for over 60 years and to the present, ESB has become the leading authority on sports statistics. Originally, official statistician of Major League Baseball, Siwoff was able to add to this distinction the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, and the Arena Football League. More recently, ESB added pro-women’s basketball (WNBA) and pro-golf to its list of league clientele.

ESB also is a primary source of statistics for national newspapers, magazines and websites, as well as dozens of broadcasters of MLB, NBA and NHL telecasts. With Sporting News having phased out its record book publishing business during 2007, The Elias Book of Baseball Records appears to be the sole hard-copy source of official baseball records. This book is available only through the company website.

Steve Hirdt, executive vice-president, added his skills as a sports writer. His first venture was writing for ESPN’s Page2 website for a brief time. Later, he moved to a column for ESPN The Magazine. The column is entitled “Do the Math” and focuses on sports statistics.