3 K's you're out!!!

June 3, 2004 9:15 AM

How to score a baseball game. A childhood pleasure I've never given up.
posted by WolfDaddy (24 comments total)

Great link WolfDaddy, thanks. I have passed this on to the members of the league we play in. Might help us establish some scoring standards!
posted by vito90 at 9:31 AM on June 3, 2004

I love keeping score at ballgames and have been using the scorecards from this site for years. Of course, it's much easier when you're keeping score from home and have an Internet connection and TiVo to help with those plays you missed.

I remember at one point you used to be able to get downloadable scorecards from mlb.com with the lineups already filled in. I can't seem to find them anymore, so either they discontinued this or I dreamt it.
posted by Jugwine at 9:36 AM on June 3, 2004

Derek Zumsteg of Baseball Prospectus recently did a comprehensive review of most readily available types of scorecard, with tips on how to score.
posted by jeffmshaw at 9:51 AM on June 3, 2004

Wow. Thanks.
posted by yerfatma at 10:22 AM on June 3, 2004

Thanks wolfdaddy. My interest has been piqued about scoring games for a while, and even more so recently as they've started telling you how to score the at-bats on the jumbotron at Fenway. It's always seemed so complicated to me, so this will probably help!
posted by jerseygirl at 10:25 AM on June 3, 2004

What a great site. I've always loved to score games. It's a great way to maintain interest in the game when you're watching from the last row of the bleachers.
posted by jpoulos at 10:38 AM on June 3, 2004

jerseygirl: One of my favorite things about watching the Sox games on NESN is that they flash the players' scorecard line on the screen during their at bats in the last innings. It makes keeping score just that much easier.
posted by Jugwine at 10:42 AM on June 3, 2004

Thanks. Every time I've been to a baseball game (almost always at Wrigley Field) I've always admired the people keeping scores. Most of the time it seems like it's older people keeping scores, so it seems to be a dying tradition, at least at MLB games.

I've always wanted to know how to keep score, so this really helps.

Since I'm European I grew up thinking baseball was just about the dumbest sport in the world, but the more games I watch and the more I learn about the sport, the more I love it. I love it almost as much as soccer and even stay up watching live games on mlb.tv (altough the 5 hour time difference makes it painful :-)

Now, let's all pray Mark Prior is ok.
posted by einarorn at 11:07 AM on June 3, 2004

It really is very simple to learn; all you have to know is maybe half a dozen shorthand notations, and then you can make the rest up (I just checked out the gallery and stole a few ideas). And you'll be very popular at the ballpark late in the game when everybody wants to check out your scorebook to see what happened four innings ago.
posted by stefanie at 11:29 AM on June 3, 2004

Man, this brings me back to a time when I was in little league and the Jays were winning World Series left and right. Great link.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:42 AM on June 3, 2004

This is awesome! Thanks!

Boston fans-- does anyone know how the "Remy Method" differs from the traditional one? Don and Sean have commented on Jerry having his own style of scorekeeping.
posted by Mayor Curley at 11:58 AM on June 3, 2004

It's always seemed so complicated to me, so this will probably help!


IMO, the reason it seems so complicated is because there are many different ways to do it. That's why I don't get hung up on it. (I don't bother indicating who was at bat when a runner gets caught stealing, for example.) There's no "right" way to do it. Just do the best you can.
posted by jpoulos at 12:10 PM on June 3, 2004

Yeah, don't get hung up on any 'right' way. The hobby, for me, pays off in that I can pull out a scorecard from a game in my youth and remember the game much easier than hadn't I scored the thing.

There's also little fun things you can do that aren't standard scoring, but makes for fun times with your fellow fans. For example, back in the day, a bunch of us in the bleachers would make little marks on our scorecard every time Astros' third baseman Enos Cabell would step outside the box to adjust himself. By the time we got to 60 adjusts during one interminable night-time double-header versus the Mets, he had been nicknamed by the crowd "Penis" Cabell, and it stuck for the rest of his tour of duty with the 'stros. That's not something you'll find listed here, but it sure made for some hilarity amongst the fans in the Dome.
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:54 PM on June 3, 2004

Thanks WolfDaddy, though I've kept score for years and have developed my own system. It takes a larger-than-average scorecard but involves pitch counts among other things. I never did think about keeping adjustment counts though.

Like they say, "In baseball there is a statistic for everything!" Poor Mr. Cabell. :D
posted by Fezboy! at 3:19 PM on June 3, 2004

I always keep score at baseball games. It's usually embarassing, but it does allow me to show off my very small handwriting.
posted by goneill at 3:33 PM on June 3, 2004

i'm down with the pitch counts too, but i don't keep track of extra foul balls.

what up with the subscription-only content on Baseball Prospectus? i guess i haven't visited in a few years ...
posted by mrgrimm at 4:25 PM on June 3, 2004

Ah WolfDaddy... do you remember the the awesome exploding scoreboard at the Dome whenever one of the Astros managed to get a ball out of that cavernous field?

Gads, I even find myself missing what were widely considered one of the ugliest uniforms in professional sports... though to be fair there were a lot of teams putting a bug hurt on the eyeballs in the 70s and 80s.

Kind of surprising any of them ever scored, eh?
posted by John Smallberries at 4:49 PM on June 3, 2004

Ack. bug = big, drat it.
posted by John Smallberries at 4:51 PM on June 3, 2004

I've always wanted to know how to do this. Thanks for the link! I'll try it when I go to Wrigley next month. : )
posted by SisterHavana at 6:05 PM on June 3, 2004

My wife and I both keep score at any game we're at (minors, majors, -- little league if we ever went to one).

It is just a great way of keeping track of the flow of the game. It is nice to easily be able to realize that the current batter grounded out to third all three times up. Or that the pitcher hasn't gone to a third ball all game.

And it adds that excitement when your teams ninth batter is up in the inning with two outs and you're torn between wanting success and not having to deal with it if there's a tenth batter.

For my wife it was a great way to learn the game. She grew up in Hawaii and was never even exposed to the game, but over the last six years has taken to it in a big way.

She was always asking me questions and not remembering the answers to I got her to start scoring and it gave her a means to focus on the game in a way that was informative. She only does high level scoring (and doesn't care about the totals at the end).

Thanks for the link!
posted by obfusciatrist at 7:06 PM on June 3, 2004

Boston fans-- does anyone know how the "Remy Method" differs from the traditional one? Don and Sean have commented on Jerry having his own style of scorekeeping.

it used to be on Remy's site, but I can't find it anymore.
posted by jerseygirl at 7:35 PM on June 3, 2004

J. Smallberries, do you know that when the Astrodome attained corporate ownership, the exploding scoreboard was ripped out to put in more seats. BASTARDS! Ah, well, it's all gonna go sooner or later to provide more parking for that behemoth Reliant Stadium right next door. So much for the 8th Wonder of the World.

I miss those uniforms too. I also remember when a huge pizza slice shaped portion of the dome's glassy roof had to be painted black because the players complained of too much glare from the sun! Is this a valid complaint in an outdoor venue? I ask you.
posted by WolfDaddy at 8:52 PM on June 3, 2004

That triggered some good memories, Wolfie, thanks. Makes me want to get out to the park this summer to see a game of yakyu (soulless Japanese baseball) -- except for the "bunt, bunt, bunt" thing.
posted by planetkyoto at 10:42 PM on June 3, 2004

This is awesome. I've been getting my scorecards here [also mentioned above]. I found it is the only way to watch the game. It's sad in a way, I won't leave the TV/bleachers until the 7th inning so that my card is up to date. My daughter (6) knows how to keep score now. She keeps tabs while I run to the fridge
posted by BentPenguin at 10:57 PM on June 3, 2004