In 1979, Levine’s company was retained by new Oakland A’s ownership (the Levi Strauss-leading Haas family) to recruit marketing leadership and guide development of a marketing plan to turn around the image and attendance fortunes of the franchise. In response to the request of team president Roy Eisenhardt to help increase the listenership and viewership of its radio and television broadcasts, Levine proposed adding engaging statistical content to the franchise’s broadcast talent’s commentary as well as provide the team manager and coaches with more in-depth player performance and game tactics planning insight. This led to creating and installing the ‘EDGE 1.000’ computer system and software (developed in collaboration with Dr. Richard Cramer and Dr. Steven Mann - both early proselytizers of Sabermetrics conceived and popularized by Bill James).

The new technology would facilitate digitally gathering, analyzing and graphically depicting in-game pitch-by-pitch and hitting pattern data in real time. The system also included portably stored digitized in-house amateur and professional scouting databases. Levine secured financial support for the development hardware components from Apple Corp., Corvus (portable storage systems), D.C. Hayes (modems) and Digital Equipment Corporation. Building on the successful A’s installation and their validation of the system’s value in 1981 Levine launched Sports Team Analysis & Tracking Systems (STATS) as a Pacific Select Corp subsidiary (with Cramer and Mann), that led to other teams acquiring the systems, notably the Houston Astros, New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox. The story of the A’s use of the newly accessible information made possible by EDGE 1.000 became the foundation for the best-selling book “Moneyball” by Michael Lewis published in 2003 by W.W. Norton & Company, further popularized in 2011 by the movie of the same name featuring Brad Pitt and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing.