 Silver first gained public recognition for developing PECOTA, a system for forecasting the performance and career development of Major League Baseball players, which he sold to and then managed for Baseball Prospectus from 2003 to 2009.Silver was named one of The World's 100 Most Influential People by "Time" in 2009 after an election forecasting system he developed successfully predicted the outcomes in 49 of the 50 states in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election.In the 2012 United States presidential election, the forecasting system correctly predicted the winner of all 50 states and the District of Columbia.