And he seems to have been generally content at the paper. He said as much in emails from late last year to The Atlantic Wire: "There are many wonderful things about The Times, including Jill, and I appreciate her kind words," he told us back then (Silver was unavailable for comment this evening). Silver's contract was up in August, and he had reportedly been in the midst of negotiations.

But don't worry, it's not like Silver completely abandoning his political affiliation now that he's living in the land of Baseball Tonight and Monday Night Football: Stelter reports Silver will contribute to ABC News' election coverage, too. Considering that he first gained attention as a young wizard of baseball statistics, it's not surprising that he wants to leave politics for the playing fields of professional sport. Stelter says as much in his report: "At public events recently, he has expressed interest in covering sports more frequently, so the ESPN deal is a logical next step."

The FiveThirtyEight blog existed before the Times started paying a "licensing" fee in 2010. Founded in 2008, FiveThirtyEight previously found its home at the Daily Kos and the Baseball Prospectus. So, clearly, this isn't the first time Silver has published under a sports related umbrella. But Silver's name has become so synonymous with political predictions since he got his start working with the mathematicians who turned baseball on its head that some find it hard to believe he'll continue writing about politics at all.

But signing with the Times gave Silver's little blogging operation the flint and fuel to grow the operations into the date-crunching behemoth you know today. What this move means for the greater FiveThirtyEight staff, and writers like Micah Cohen and John Sides who contribute regularly, remains unclear at this time.

Silver's relationship with the paper was "tense at times," as Stelter acknowledges. Foremost in that category was almost certainly a paid position as a consultant that created a potential conflict of interest. Silver severed that arrangement after it was reported by Gawker.

His book The Signal and the Noise was well-received, with The Times offering it restrained praise, though it noted that "though some conservatives have been critical of his methods during this election cycle." Now they can pick on him for his baseball predictions, too.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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