QScore Keeping

I am looking to find info on doing the scorebook. This will be my first time doing it. Is there anything that I really need to know? How do I know there is an error and who do I put the error on? We provided an answer to his immediate question, but as always it lead us to some other thoughts as well.

AThere is a video called How to Keep Score which might help.

As for errors - the definition hinges on whether the fielder could have / should have made the play with ordinary effort. So in fielding hits, if the player isn't there in time - no error; if he baubles it and so can't make a play - error. On a throw to a base, it has to do with whether the ball is fielded cleanly and the throw would have beaten the runner. If it wouldn't have got there anyway, no error. If it's off line - throwing error. If it's not caught cleanly - baseman's error. (The video demos some of these.)

Note: there are no mental errors - errors can only be on physical play.

If at all possible, I would recommend one of the statistical software packages: Turbo Stats or Baseball Manager, for instance, both available through WebBall. But unless you are logging the data through a Palm Pilot at the game, it still comes back to having to interpret the scorebook information, which depends on having a scorekeeper who understands and appreciates the two-fold purpose of the book.

Most understand the need to keep track of the game in progress; fewer scorekeepers appreciate the importance of the book in being able to look back later in assessing player performance, or in scouting the opposition.

So, a couple of pointers for scorekeepers - and for coaches when talking to their scorekeepers.

1) The order of pitches can be important. Most keepers tick off the pitches to record balls and strikes; few number them so that we can see later how many first pitches were balls or strikes. Ideal of course is to chart pitch location, but that is the responsibility of the pitching and coaching staff - seldom if ever happens at the amateur level.

2) The location of hit balls can be important - whether outs or hits. Writing F8, for instance, is okay; marking a X where the hit went with an F8 beside it - even better. (Another point here - many leagues are nine-man ball, many others are everybody hits, in which case fielding changes seem less important and are often not recorded in the line-up. It would be helpful if that F8 (or E8) or hit to left-center also made note of which player was in that fielding role at the time.)

3) Giving out Stolen Base credits too liberally is one of my pet peeves. Just to be clear, if there are runners first and third, and the trailing runner steals second without a throw - or with a decoy throw to the Shortstop - then that runner should not get an SB - it is nothing more than defensive indifference.

4) RBIs is another area in which there is some confusion. First, the batter must produce the RBI by virtue of his performance not through a fielding error. A bases-loaded walk generates an RBI for the batter. A fielders choice that scores a run is also good for an RBI credit. Sacrifice flies and bunts obviously generate RBIs (in fact without the RBI it is not a sacrifice at all - just an out.) But if an error occurs and the run would not have scored if the play was errorless, then no RBI credit. The point of all the above is not to make the task of the parent-scorekeeper more onerous, just to help the scorebook become a more useful tool for the coaches. (I might even go so far as to suggest that a coach keep the book.)