My dissertation examines a new form of fandom, the advanced statistical analysis of professional American baseball. These fans, called Sabermetricians use advanced statistical techniques to analyze baseball players and strategies. This analysis, known as Sabermetrics allows these fans to develop an identity as experts which provide them with a cache of cultural capital. However, their conclusions also alienate them from the baseball establishment, as their conclusions often run counter to the conventional wisdom of baseball. The disagreement over how to analyze baseball caused a public crisis in baseball as well known figures openly criticized the work of Sabermetricians. This debate about the legitimacy of this new knowledge and what it means for how consumers of culture participate in the production of culture makes Sabermetricians and Sabermetrics a compelling subject for sociological inquiry. My research focuses on both the individual Sabermetricians and the conflict between Sabermetricians and the baseball establishment.

Using interviews with 46 Sabermetricians, baseball franchise executives, and baseball journalists, my study seeks to understand the how and why this unique fan movement emerged, and how Sabermetricians make meaning in their own lives and make new knowledge that they hope to be integrated into existing thought. My project will also examine the strategies that these actors use to deal with the tension that their identity as "stats geeks" creates within their own lives as they interact with the various actors in the realm of sports fandom. My findings highlight the importance of competing discourses of masculinity in structuring the proceses of how knowledge creation as well as how knowledge is debated, and used in maintaining position within the masculine hierarchy of sports. This work refines the current work and offers new insights to the study of popular culture, fandom, sports, and masculinity.