Beginner's Guide to Baseball Score Keeping

The buds on the trees are starting to emerge once more and the constant drip of water can be heard as the melting snow drops from my roof. This can only mean one thing: Baseball is right around the corner. With a new season, comes new fans. With new fans comes the same old questions. A huge portion of these questions come from the cryptic scribblings that can be found on score cards. Even after years of keeping up with the sport, there are still several things that I forget or just don't know. There is a cipher to the hieroglyphic language of the baseball scorecard though. Some of these scribbles are unique to each fan, but there are many that have become uniform to most of these tablets. Keeping score may look like a difficult task, but it is really very simple. For many, it is a way to follow the game and track the progress of a favorite player, but it can go much deeper than that. Whether you are creating a souvenir or just messing around, keeping score can be a fun and challenging way to interact with America's Favorite Pastime.

Before you can even try to keep score, you have to have a scorecard. These can be found just about anywhere. There is usually one in the program you can buy when you go to the games, or find a baseball store that sells them by the notebook. You can also download them from the internet. My favorite way to get one is to ask the security guy that hands them out to people at the game. These are a copied version that have the lineups and rosters of both teams. They usually have a couple extras left over and will gladly give them out if you ask nicely. Not every park does this, but I know that Petco Park does, as well as several other venues that I have been to. As long as you do not make a big deal of it, they will pass you one.

Once you have the scorecard, you can start to fill it out. It will have a spot for the date and teams as well as the lineup. You can follow along with the announcer prior to the game or get the lineup from the scoreboard at any time. You can add in any additional information as well. The venue, time of game, temperature, or anything else you feel is important enough to write down can be added to these. Once you have everything filled out you can sit back and wait for the action to start.

Most scorecards are a way to monitor the batting and pitching of the players. Most of it revolves around this. Some people will also include a "scatter" chart on the back of the scorecard or on a blank piece of paper. A scatter chart is a way to gauge fielding stats. These are not usually published but can be easily found on the MLB website. You can use different colors or symbols to track a catch, out, hit, fly ball, or ground ball. You can also annotate who put the ball in play. To create a scatter chart, just draw out a picture of the diamond and annotate where each player is playing. From there you can easily plot an approximate location of where the ball went to. This will help you to track your favorite players and where their strengths and weaknesses are.

When it comes to filling out your scorecard, you are pretty much free to do what you want. Some people will track every pitch, some will only track balls and strikes, while others only track strikeouts and when the ball is in play. Here is a list of the more common symbols and notations. A K represents a strikeout. If the K is backwards, it means the player was "caught looking" (he didn't swing at the last pitch). The count is always noted as Balls to Strikes, so a 2-1 count means two balls and one strike. HBP means hit by pitch, while BB means base on balls (or a walk). 1B, 2B, 3B (or just the number without the B) means a single, double, or triple respectively. HR is a home run. SB is a stolen base. Positions are a little trickier to remember. Each position is given a number from 1-9. The pitcher is one, catcher 2, first, second, and third basemen are 3,4, and 5 respectively. The shortstop is 6, left field 7, center 8, and right fielder is 9. The Designated Hitter, if there is one, is just the DH. Those are the basic symbols. Now let's use some of them so you can get a feel for the card.

Starting at the top of the order, lets say Smith is leadoff. You will want to X each box for balls and strikes he receives. Let's say he gets 2 balls and 1 strike. He then doubles to right. You can either circle the bag he lands on or darken the base path to where he stopped and write 2B to the side. Now Jones is up to the plate. While he is batting, Smith steals third. Along the base path from second to third, write SB and the batters position or number to tell who was at bat. Jones then flies out to deep center field. You will write SF in his box for Sacrifice Fly and write a one in the bottom corner to signify that he was the first out of the inning. That is really all there is to it. Just keep going until the game is over.

Keeping score can be a great way to spend time with your kids, or make new friends. If someone asks you what happened, you can easily recall everything since you have it written down. You can also use this as a way to get closer to your kids. Teaching them to keep score and following along with them can be fun and memorable. After the game, you can get one of the star performers of the night, or just your favorite player to autograph the card. You can get a souvenir that means something to you, this way. There are several other tips and tricks that you can use, as well as some very in depth score cards. This should be a good base for you to get started though. If you have any questions, most of the fans around you will be more than happy to guide you along. One thing that brings all of us together is a love of the game and a desire to share that love. So even if you are a Dodgers fan at a Padres game, feel free to ask. We may poke fun at each other, but in the end, we are all just fans of the game.