Predicting Sports Through the Stars

Andrea Mallis scouts baseball her way. She crunches numbers, but she is no sabermetrician. She studies charts, but not the kinds with pitches and hits. When she scouts baseball for the upcoming season, she simply looks to the stars.

Mallis, who graduated from Queens College in 1982, is a baseball astrologer who uses the charts of major league ballplayers to predict how they will do in upcoming seasons. She has already gained fame for her knack for correctly predicting injuries of prominent players and warning of unexpected declines in the play of others. But while some may see it as supernatural talent, Mallis does not want to be seen as a mystical figure.

“I’m not a psychic,” said Mallis. “It’s real metaphysical science.”

After getting her degree at QC, the sociology major headed to California to study at Berkeley. Once there, she was drawn to the stars and became a certified astrologer in 1989.

Though Mallis grew up as a huge Mets fan and has always loved baseball, the paths of her favorite hobbies did not cross until 2001 at an Oakland Athletics game. It was then that she decided to run pitcher Barry Zito’s astrological chart to find out what the planets had in store for him. She found a great amount of useful information that she then shared on the A’s post-game call-in show, “Extra Innings.” The hosts liked her so much that they gave Mallis a regular segment. From then on, the astrologer was hooked.

“It was like chocolate and peanut butter,” said Mallis. “I got to blend two things I love.”

When Mallis accurately predicted Zito Cy Young’s season in 2002 on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” her career as a sports astrologer exploded. Since then, she has been featured in USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and a number of baseball team magazines. In addition, she has contributed articles to the official Web sites of ESPN and Major League Baseball and has made numerous television appearances.

Nowadays, Mallis is a regular at baseball’s winter meetings, which are the annual gatherings of top baseball personnel. She has consulted with teams about which players to consider signing as free agents. Mallis believes that teams need to be open to anything that can help them save money and still remain competitive.

“Everyone’s looking for an edge. They need to see what astrology can do for them,” said Mallis. “Why reward them for what they have done when you can look to the future?”

Because of the help she can offer, the 49-year-old Virgo would like to one day become a paid consultant for an MLB club. She’s certainly making her case by dispensing advice to general managers that would save them huge amounts of money if they heed Mallis’s words.

At the winter meetings in 2005, Mallis tried to stop her favorite team from making what she thought was a costly mistake.

“I begged Omar Minaya [Mets’ general manager] not to sign Billy Wagner,” said Mallis.

Wagner, who signed a $43-million contract with the Mets, played well in his first season as a Met, but his performance declined in the following year. Last season, Wagner tore the medial collateral ligament in his pitching elbow, shutting him down for the rest of 2008 and the entire 2009 season as well. Wagner has since stated that he has “played his last game as a Met.”

Back in 2005, Mallis felt so strongly about Wagner’s future that she created a mock baseball card on which she listed Wagner’s planetary problems, which included the fact that Wagner would be susceptible to major injury.

Her talent is not, perhaps, one taught by an institution of higher education, but Mallis credits QC with helping her get to where she is now.

“My professors planted a seed that I feel to this day,” said Mallis. “Thinking back, some of the best years of my life were spent at QC.”

Mallis notes that while she spent much of her time studying in Powdermaker Hall, she also was involved in clubs. Mallis restarted the Sociology Student Association, which had been long defunct before her time at QC. She also made use of her time by developing her own beliefs and viewpoints and she encourages current students to do the same.

“At QC, you have the luxury of learning and questioning,” said Mallis. “You can stay true to your gifts and potential.”

Mallis is still using her gifts to project current happenings in the baseball world.

She said that her hometown Mets can safely rely on their bullpen this season. According to Mallis, new closer Francisco Rodriguez has a positive aspect to his sun and J.J. Putz’s chart looks good all around. However, Mets fans should be aware that ace Johan Santana may be in for a rough August, which the team will have to overcome down the stretch.

Unfortunately for Yankee fans, the California-based astrologer does not like all the moves from New York teams.

“Mark Teixeira is a poster child for a very problematic signing,” said Mallis. “The Yankees are going to freak out because they signed him right on the cusp of a low-energy cycle.”

Mallis understands that it’s difficult to make people believe something that was previously unknown and that comes with preconceived notions. But she is going to continue making bold predictions that may someday force MLB teams to take notice. Until then, she’s happy to continue doing what she’s doing in her one-of-a-kind profession.

“To pioneer something is very difficult,” said Mallis. “But when you follow your bliss, doors open.”

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