Guess what? It's World Series time! Even if you live under a rock, you must realize how historic this series is: Cubs, last appearance 1945 (lost) and last win [1907/1908] - back to back - impressive even then, and Cleveland, last win [1948], are playing. The longtime hopes and dreams of their fans are riding on this series. There was a pitcher's duel last night 1 - 0 which means not enough action for me especially on TV. The way I've always gotten around the lack of action in low scoring games I've attended is by filling out a box score as the game progresses. Thinking about this was triggered by a friend sending me an article about score keeping.
I wish I had a nickel for every time people tell me baseball is boring. Basically, that translates into they don't know enough about the game to actually watch it except at the most superficial level. Since baseball takes an extended period of concentration to pick up on and see the real nuances of the game, I learned to keep score.
I've kept a box score since my brother's baseball games when I was a child sitting in a webbed aluminum lawn chair on the sidelines. It's a wonder I wasn't beaned by a foul ball. I was so young - still in single digits in age - I don't even remember who actually taught me the score keeping basics. Eventually, I was named the official scorekeeper for the McArthur Bears. Of course, I actually wanted to PLAY the game, but there were no baseball teams for girls. (Another example of just accepting something because 'that's the way it's always been'.) A fond hope is I'll live to see a woman in the Major Leagues.
Then, I married the biggest baseball fanatic I've ever known. In the 70's when we lived in Houston, I took a pay raise in the form of two season tickets to the Astros, who played at the 8th wonder of the world, the Astrodome, and I have score books which go back to that time. I never score a TV game, only live ones, which today for me means mainly Spring Training games. Early games like those are a whole other ball of wax for a scorekeeper with non-team member invited players, unknown players, minor league players with no names on their backs, and a zillion pitching changes.
My preferred score book is a legal sized spiral Spalding score book with pre-printed pages. I don't draw in my own boxes, nor my own diamond. There's a tidiness to the pre-printed version. I use a clipboard as a writing surface to hold my score book with a rolled towel under it to tilt the book and make it easier to write on. I like a thin lead mechanical pencil, the same one for several years now, since the boxes are tiny, and sometimes scoring requires erasure. My preference is to produce a tidy book without ink-outs at the end of a game. However, at this point in my score keeping career, if pressed, I'm sure I could keep a game in ink. To avoid that, I always carry a spare pencil to every game I score.
Every serious scorekeeper's book is unique. I record every pitch including all the foul balls as well as keep track of how many pitches have been thrown by the starting pitcher inning by inning. I mark all balls and strikes. I show which players touch the ball in making an out or an error. I have my own symbols for the trajectory of the ball as it's hit. "K's' are strikeouts. The backward K to account for a strikeout when a player just stands there and watches the ball go by without swinging is pretty standard. I have my own bracket symbol to indicate a double play as well as a symbol to indicate when a new pitcher enters the game. TMI - LOL - baseball scorers are obsessive.
I've always wanted to get a gander at Tom Grieve's score book, he's the color announcer for the Rangers, and in some interviews up in the booth, you can see his book, but not the notations. I do know some media people actually use different colors of ink pens when scoring to make commentary easier. When having to pee during a game, I reluctantly hand over my book to my baseball expert for a half inning. Recently, I've carped until he puts on his reading glasses to make the notations. His scoring marks even then are must less pristine than mine.
I sometimes announce to my 'row' and the people in front and behind me I'm this area's official scorekeeper. The real fans take me seriously - they begin asking me questions as the game progresses along the lines of: "What'd he do last time?" "How many pitches now?" "Are you scoring that as a hit or error?" Oh, and I also keep both sides of the contest - same markings for the other team. Occasionally, I teach a kid to score and hand over my book. Fortunately, I sit next to the aforementioned baseball expert, and I do consult every once in awhile when something unusual happens which, surprisingly to me, is almost every game.
Now, with the World Series winding down, I find I'm eager for the start of the next baseball season which for me will be the end of February! I once calculated, I notice in excess of 200 ballgames a year, but currently I'm only scoring about twenty. That's the difference for me: I NOTICE games which are running on television or the radio, but I WATCH the games I score.
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