N.Y. Daily News: Promoting their small businesses

Guiding You to Victory!!! (okaaay) A quickie look at the fantasy baseball sherpa...Scott Swanay.

Seventeen years as an insurance actuary followed by a stint in market research helped Scott Swanay learn how to analyze dry statistics. By devoting himself to his interest in fantasy baseball, he put those skills to work in a new way.

More than 8 million Americans played fantasy baseball in 2007, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, assembling rosters of players and competing against each other based on their players’ stats. Swanay, 42, used $400,000 in savings to launch a company and Web site that uses his quantitative analysis to provide fantasy baseball advice.

“My role is similar to an investment manager’s role in recommending stocks,” he said. “I’m like a coach or manager on the sidelines, giving player rankings and projections so that people can put together the most efficient team possible.”