Opening Day’s right around the corner, and while that means a lot of logistical considerations for the teams, there are also a few key questions that those of us in the stands or the boxes have to give thought to as well. This might come across a bit of being a pitchwoman, but we’ve gotten a few e-mails like this:
I am a faithful reader of the Prospectus Annual and love Baseball Between the Numbers. Also, I am an avid scorekeeper and season ticket-holder here in Cleveland. After finishing my last generic baseball/softball scorebook, I am shopping for new one that will allow for much more detailed scoring of games. Suggestions?—BC, Cleveland, OH
Now, if you enjoy all of that as much as I do and have to get yourself one of Andy’s scorebooks, from what I can understand you can order them from Baltimore Chop, even during that excellent baseball bookstore’s move from one brick-and-mortar location to another in Bal’mer by e-mailing them to place an order. You won’t be sorry, because I can guarantee that I’ll be using one come Opening Day, and ideally using nothing but these through this season in the press boxes of Chicago and the other ballparks that I’m planning to get to this summer.
I know - it's a lot of hard work, but the thought of showing up for work every day in "the press boxes of Chicago and the other ballparks that I'm planning to get to this summer" sounds too good to be true.
I'm glad to learn of this option. Several years ago, I was looking for a quality scorebook and had very little luck. I finally located - on the Internet - "Total Recap" (http://www.totalrecap.com/basic.html)which has been great. From what I can tell from the Wirkmaa site, it has much the same content and maybe even a little bit more.
I also appreciate your touting of the "Baltimore Chop." Glad to hear of a baseball store that is more than hats and shirts. I was really disappointed to find that none of the stores around Fenway carried scorecards or anything along that line.
I'm a big fan of keeping score. As a Brit who came to the sport without playing it as a kid, keeping score has been essential in learning about strategy and the rules of the game. We ran a whole series of articles on keeping score during February on our website with the hope that fellow Brits will catch the scoring bug.
One of the great things about keeping score is that in most cases you can pick up another person's scorecard and understand it. We've got an example of one from a 1962 British National baseball final and so long as you know the basics of scoring, you can replay the game plate appearance by plate appearance today.
Thanks for the recommendation of another very useful scorecard.
Strangely, I am a bit nostalgic of my year in the UK, when I'd stay up well past midnight at least once a week to watch Channel 5's live broadcast of an MLB game. I loved the two guys who would comment on the game from a low-budget London studio between innings. I'd listen to their take on baseball over yet another commercial break anytime (but it's also nice to be back within regular baseball time zones).
Yep, very bad news about Channel 5 dropping baseball. There are other options (MLB.tv mainly), but they're not much good for attracting newcomers to the sport. We're just hoping the team can find a new home, although it doesn't look too promising at the moment.
This is a great recommendation, thanks. If pitch count isn't important I like Bob Carpenter's scorebook, it is very generic and has a lot of room. The Big Five scorebooks have pitch count slots, but often very cramped space.
My preferred scoresheet is Alex Reiser's -- it is based on Project Scoresheet's version, but with a mini diamond on which the positions of the runners before and after the play are shown, making it easier to see the current situation at a glance. He now sells scorebooks, but you can still download a sample sheet from his web site: http://www.alexreisner.com/baseball/scorekeeping/#reisner
I like this as well, for the Project Scoresheet conventions but also because he makes the decision not to divide innings by columns, but instead to draw the dividing lines in yourself. It always inordinately bothered me that with traditional scorekeeping, innings with fewer than nine hitters waste space while those with more than nine hitters don't really have enough of it.
I first found out about Reisner's website through swingle's web site, actually, which came up on a google search of some sort, small world.
My first job was keeping score for softball games for my hometown's recreational softball league. It didn't pay much but when you're too young to drive and within Bicycling distance of the ballfields getting paid to watch baseball and softball is a pretty good deal. Since then I still buy a program at every game I attend just to keep score during the game.
I use the Score-Right BIG Baseball Scorebook / Softball Scorebook, available at Sports Unlimited Inc.
It's big (11"x14") and thick enough to lay on your lap to write, complicated but has nothing you can't ignore, has 10 inning columns, and has 11 batters with 4 lines each.
For an NL game, just use the eight extra lines for the 9 spot -- nice for a game like this.
I am a public address announcer for a college baseball team and I use the Baseball Scorebook by FixedIt! Software (www.fixedit.com). It costs $60 and I've used it for over five years now. Its clunky for pre-game setup, but in-game its very smooth and has a nice GUI.
Most NCAA schools/conferences use TAS (The Automated ScoreBook) by StatCrew...which is a fine piece of software for record keeping, summarizing and reporting. However, the in-game interface and need to memorize coding make it clunky IMO. However, it is trivial to do game set up..unlike Fixed It which takes longer.
Word to the wise...any official scorer or person with my responsibilities will tell you... there is a huge difference in the right tool to score recreationally versus the right tool to score officially or while "working" a baseball game.
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Can I have your job?
I know - it's a lot of hard work, but the thought of showing up for work every day in "the press boxes of Chicago and the other ballparks that I'm planning to get to this summer" sounds too good to be true.
Thanks for the scoresheet recommendation!