The Manly Art of Scoring Baseball
Scoring Baseball
Before computers, people manually kept score of each hit with a pad of paper and pen. Nowadays, people still do this for a hobby. Keeping score helps you to pay attention to the game and enjoy it even more than you ever have before. Although hard at first, it's fairly easy once you get the hang of it.
Before the Game
Usually you can find an official scorecard when you first walk into the ballpark for around two or three bucks. Some unofficial vendors may be selling unofficial scorecards outside the ballpark for cheaper or even free. I prefer the official ones just because they are official and have some other information about both teams in the scorecard as well.
Getting Started
After familiarizing yourself with the scorecard layout, begin to fill in the boxes such as the date, teams, players, positions, pitchers, and maybe even coaches and umpires. It all depends on your scorecard and what you would like to fill out.
Each position is represented by a number. The numbers are: pitcher (1), catcher (2), first baseman (3), second baseman (4), third baseman (5), shortstop (6), left fielder (7), center fielder (8), and right fielder (9). These numbers are used to fill in who throws to whom or who catches the pop fly, etc.
Batter Up!
As a scorekeeper, you should keep track of every hit. Each kind of hit is represented by a different mark.
-If a batter strikes out swinging, it is marked by a K.
-If a player steals a base, it is represented by SB on the base to which he stole.
Ways a Runner Can Get Out
-If there is a ground out, mark who it went to. For example, if the player is ground out from a throw from short stop to first, it is marked as 6-3.
-An error is marked by an E and to what base the runner advanced.
If a new pitcher comes in, write his name down under the old pitcher and begin filling in his batting statistics.
Also, if you are at the game, they usually project what to write down on the Jumbo Tron. For example, it would say Scorecard: 7 (a fly-out to left field).
After the Game
Be sure to write down the date and teams, because in three months you will have no idea what game it was.
Links:
http://www.ehow.com/how_1828_keep-score-baseball.html - A short way of explaining how to score baseball. Not very detalied.
http://www.baseballscorecard.com/downloads.htm - This website provides you with many downloads for you to print out and take to the game if you do not want to buy one. Or you could print one out and practice watching a game on TV and scoring. It also includes simpler ones for you sons and daughters as well.
Any other tips and tricks that you like? Drop a comment below.
Before computers, people manually kept score of each hit with a pad of paper and pen. Nowadays, people still do this for a hobby. Keeping score helps you to pay attention to the game and enjoy it even more than you ever have before. Although hard at first, it's fairly easy once you get the hang of it.
Before the Game
Usually you can find an official scorecard when you first walk into the ballpark for around two or three bucks. Some unofficial vendors may be selling unofficial scorecards outside the ballpark for cheaper or even free. I prefer the official ones just because they are official and have some other information about both teams in the scorecard as well.
Getting Started
After familiarizing yourself with the scorecard layout, begin to fill in the boxes such as the date, teams, players, positions, pitchers, and maybe even coaches and umpires. It all depends on your scorecard and what you would like to fill out.
Each position is represented by a number. The numbers are: pitcher (1), catcher (2), first baseman (3), second baseman (4), third baseman (5), shortstop (6), left fielder (7), center fielder (8), and right fielder (9). These numbers are used to fill in who throws to whom or who catches the pop fly, etc.
Batter Up!
As a scorekeeper, you should keep track of every hit. Each kind of hit is represented by a different mark.
-If a batter strikes out swinging, it is marked by a K.
-If a player steals a base, it is represented by SB on the base to which he stole.
Ways a Runner Can Get Out
-If there is a ground out, mark who it went to. For example, if the player is ground out from a throw from short stop to first, it is marked as 6-3.
-An error is marked by an E and to what base the runner advanced.
If a new pitcher comes in, write his name down under the old pitcher and begin filling in his batting statistics.
Also, if you are at the game, they usually project what to write down on the Jumbo Tron. For example, it would say Scorecard: 7 (a fly-out to left field).
After the Game
Be sure to write down the date and teams, because in three months you will have no idea what game it was.
Links:
http://www.ehow.com/how_1828_keep-score-baseball.html - A short way of explaining how to score baseball. Not very detalied.
http://www.baseballscorecard.com/downloads.htm - This website provides you with many downloads for you to print out and take to the game if you do not want to buy one. Or you could print one out and practice watching a game on TV and scoring. It also includes simpler ones for you sons and daughters as well.
Any other tips and tricks that you like? Drop a comment below.
Add a Comment
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Comment by Matt Kimber on June 17, 2009 at 2:08pm - I've scored two games so far this season. One was the Patriots Day game (Orioles and Red Sox), and the other was in person at Fenway (Yanks and Red Sox). The Sox scored 12 runs in the first game and 16 in the second. My writing hand was sore. I think the Yankees used everyone in their bullpen that day.
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Comment by Chris Reno on June 17, 2009 at 12:52pm -
Another thing my dad and I do when scoring hits is to put a dot where the ball went; i.e., a single to left gets a dot in the "left field section" of the box. Also, my dad's scorebook has small checkboxes for balls and strikes for each of the at-bats. This really helped me out when I played catcher in high school. I was able to go back and look not only at my ABs, but also do some research on the other team's hitters. Yes, that's right, I was one of the lucky kids whose dad made sure to get to work early on game days so he could come out and watch me play in the afternoon.
@ John Clanton (and all): Wikipedia has a good example (image) of a filled out scorecard about halfway down their article on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_scorekeeping
Go A's!
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Comment by Michael Halbrook on June 3, 2009 at 11:09pm - I agree... this is an awesome post. A lot of nostalgia here, as my dad taught me to score baseball and always bought me a score card when we went to a game. Looking back now with the perspective of having my own sons, I think it might have been to keep me busy so that he could focus on the game. But nonetheless, this was a great refresher, brought back some great memories, and will make me less rusty as I teach my boys this fine art.
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Comment by John Clanton on June 1, 2009 at 5:13pm - The pictures are great man! So what does it look like when a runner scores? What about when you get RBIs? What about anything other than a solo homer? I think a picture of a blank card and then of completed game would be AMAZING, but might be too much.
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Comment by Doctuh on June 1, 2009 at 11:03am - Fantastic subject. I have been meaning to get to a game alone sometime this year for the express purpose of filling out the entire scorecard.
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Comment by John Clanton on June 1, 2009 at 10:53am
- I like this post! I would nominate it for main page after a few additions. Maybe include pictures of the marks or a sample scorecard? Also, how do you denote an out? As in, say a man is on first, then gets out by a double play. How do you mark him out? Also, how do you denote Fielder's Choice, Infield Fly, Pick Off, Caught Stealing?
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