The launch of our Keeping Score season may have left some baseball fans thinking out loud: “well I’ve heard of this ‘keeping score’ lark, but I’m not entirely sure what the point of it is”. If that was your reaction then hopefully this article will help to answer some of your questions and encourage you to learn more about scorekeeping.Â
“Backward K’s and 6-4-3 double plays: Why baseball fans should keep score”(pdf) is a modified version of a piece I originally wrote for the Great Britain Baseball Scorers Association website last year. It is also the first published example of our new ‘full article’ format that you will be seeing more of over the rest of this year and beyond.Â
If the article prompts any queries, please feel free to ask questions via the comments box below.
It feels good to have the first “full article” published, having been talking about the idea for a while.
Matt: Very interesting reading! I had not thought of scoring a game in the way you describe in parts of your article. I have scored literally many hundreds of games in my life. I scored my first games when I was a kid going to Chicago White Sox games at Old Comiskey Park. Most kids don’t do that nowadays at MLB games. I enjoyed it in some of the ways you describe. Growing up playing Little League, the coaches did “the book”. In Babe Ruth League (13-15) and American Legion (15-18) summer baseball, kids who didn’t play too much had the duty of “keeping the book”. In official high school games, a non playing “player score keeper” from each team kept the book in the dugout. Nowadays kids hate doing it because it gives them the feeling of “being a bench warmer”. That’s too bad because they lose the opportunity to be in the game. I require all my kids in summer ball now to take a turn doing the book. There is no real “official scorer”. Only the score counts and each team makes decisions as to whether a kid got a hit or it was an error on a play, etc. Anyway, we have non player “stats kids” doing the book in the dugout during OFFICIAL HS games and there is an OFFICIAL SCORER in the press box. We chart pitches, time our pitcher’s moves on pickoffs and delivery time to the plate with runners on and have a previous game sheet on opposing hitters and pitchers(tendencies). Coaches are always timing a myriad of things with a stop watch and charting them. All our coaches are very busy during games! In some ways, I enjoy the laid back atmosphere of summer and fall ball. The regular HS season requires more preparation and record keeping. In summer ball, I sometimes keep the scorebook while I’m coaching 3rd base. I just stick the scorebook in back of my baseball pants sliding it down a ways. Pen or pencil in back pocket. When a lot is going on, it can be a bit confusing. Kind of fun though. Different HS leagues and states do things differently. Colleges have official scorers. One thing I do know for sure, it takes a certain type of person to want to score games. Being a coach, I don’t get to do it as much as I would like. Maybe when I retire from coaching, that will be my job!
Great to hear your scoring experiences Chico. It’s a shame that more kids don’t keep score, although I guess they pick up the game more through playing than kids would do here in Britain.
I think in general ballplayers are often less likely to score than fans. Certainly it’s common to hear stories from Major Leaguers who don’t know the first thing about keeping score. It’s really helped me as a baseball fan to learn more about the game and that’s why I would always encourage anyone to give it a go.
Thanks for the great post, Matt. I can’t wait to keep reading your new posts.
I’m a big fan of scorekeeping, and your post brought up a lot of thoughts. In fact, I felt I needed to make my own blogpost about it. You can see that posting here (it’s called In Defense of the Pad and Pencil): http://wezen-ball.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-defense-of-pad-and-pencil.html
Here are a couple of the main reasons I’m so in favor of scorekeeping that go along with what you already said. I agree 100% with everything you said, by the way.
* You touched on this in the article, but you didn’t exactly make this point: when keeping score, your memory of the game improves, even during the game. One of my favorite things about keeping score is looking back at a player’s previous at-bats and seeing a particular play – one that you would never think to mention to someone the next day, or even at the bar after the game – and remembering every detail of it. We see so many plays during a given game that, unless they’re important plays (or web-gems of some sort), most of them aren’t going to stick in our minds. But, when you have the scorebook in front of you, so many of those “little” plays jump out at you because you’ve had some sort of active participation in the play, even if it is just writing down “6-3” or “lineout 5”.
* A few years back, I spent half a summer getting paid to keep score at the Fresno Grizzlies AAA games. It was a blast, being able to get into the ballpark for free, keeping score, and then going home knowing that I was making money too. Beyond that, though, I attended about 20 games that summer (the first time I had ever attended that many professional games), and I was able to transcribe my “professional” scorecards into my personal scorebook. For the next couple of years, until I stupidly misplaced that scorebook, I could go back into it and relive that summer. I could see those fantastic plays that Chris Burke made at second, or the home run that Joe Thornton hit right to my buddy and me and that my buddy took home… it was the best keepsake of a baseball season I could ever ask for. And with my 20-game pack to the Brewers last season, I did the same thing, and I’ll do it again and again. For the rest of my life, I’ll be able to pick up any of these scorebooks and breeze through every game that I attended this year, including my first visits to Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium and my first taste of the postseason. I *love* that idea.
Thanks for passing on your thoughts and for highlighting the article on your blog. Your time with the Grizzlies sounds like great fun. And to be paid as well! Doesn’t get better than that.
You make a very good point about remembering plays. It’s the main reason why announcers often keep score and it’s just as useful for us fans. Everyone remembers the big moments, but it’s sometimes the lesser plays that really take you back to the game.
Matt: You brought up an excellent point about players (and I might add coaches to some extent who concentrate on strategy) not really being very interested or knowledgeable about statistics, score keeping, etc. Kids that grow up as players are more concerned about becoming simply a player, as opposed to kids who grow up and don’t play for one reason or another. The non players, if they love baseball, tend to gravitate toward the statistical end of the game. My son, as an example spends his baseball time trying to improve his hitting mechanics and fielding and pitching skills. When he goes to a MLB game he is interested in looking at the game to find out ways he can become better (by studying hitters and fielders and their mechanics, etc.) and generally just enjoys the broad experience. As a coach, I spend the majority of my time teaching the game to HS kids 15-18 and get great satisfaction watching them improve over a season. Teaching a kid to be a better hitter as an example, takes a keen eye to pick up the little mechanical nuances that need to be refined or changed. Pitching and fielding the same way. I simply find it fascinating that the game of baseball has a place for everyone. It is physical and cerebral, depending on the individual. Pretty amazing isn’t it?
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there Chico. Baseball is a game for everyone and that’s why it’s such a great sport. Hopefully we can convince a few more Brits to think that way too!
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I agree fans should keep score. i wish more kids would keep score. What is “shocking” is that i keep score and i’m 17 and a girl! most people ask me if i know what im doing but the best part is if you can score you know whats going on better than the guy next to you. i love scoring. i love baseball i want to teach kids to do this more!