FARMINGTON – There are several traditions within the sport of baseball that I genuinely enjoy. In addition to finding colorful and sometimes inappropriate nicknames for players, many fans—myself included—enjoy a box of Cracker Jack, a cold beverage, and a bag of peanuts or sunflower seeds (unless, of course, you’re at Ricketts Park) during a day at the yard.
Keeping an accurate and timely scorebook is a labor of love for me. It requires sharp attention to detail, a good vantage point from which to watch the game, and the best writing instruments one can find.
While there is an official language of baseball scoring (using numbers for positions like 6-4-3 for a double play, or a K for a strikeout), there is no single “correct” way to fill out a scorecard.
Keeping score is a highly personal tradition. Some fans use colored pencils or pens to track different innings, some invent their own custom symbols for specific plays, and others use modern digital apps. Ask five different baseball purists how they mark a “hit by pitch” or a “fielder’s choice,” and you’ll likely get a few different answers.
Hall of fame broadcaster Red Barber once said of the scorebook, “I’ve known fellow broadcasters who keep scorebooks as detailed as a researcher’s calculations on atomic energy, and I’ve friends who content themselves with merely marking a large ‘O’ on their score sheet when a batter is retired, and a large ‘X’ if he makes a hit.”
There are more than a few necessities for my scorebook. In addition to my compulsion for accuracy in a game recap story, I enjoy the writing, the scribbling, and the incessant note-taking that goes on between innings.
It never fails that someone will look at my scorebook after a completed game and have absolutely no idea what they’re looking at. But as long as you can look back at your book and reconstruct the story of the game, you’re doing it right.
There are books that are great for the novice scorekeeper, and there are books for the more advanced or detail-oriented. There are books with room inside each individual batter’s box to show how baserunners advance, and there are books which allow you to keep up-to-the-minute pitch counts.
In addition to which scorebook is the best fit, there’s also the argument of pen vs. pencil. I decided long ago that the pen was the way to go. I’ve got enough confidence in my own ability to score a game that I’ll avoid any writing instrument with an eraser.
Being a lefty does have its disadvantages when keeping a scorebook. Choose the wrong ink type or a thicker lead pencil, and you’ve got smudge marks all over the page. Because of that, I’m incredibly picky when it comes to buying the pens that will be used for my book.
The thinner the ink, the better. So if you’re ever shopping for the holiday season and find ultra-fine gel pens made by Pilot, I’ll forever be in your debt.
What’s the difference between a fly out to the left fielder and a fly out to the left fielder in foul territory? Of course that’s a thing.
“F7” is the standard fly out to left. “FO7” is when the catch is made in foul ground.
Then there’s the difference between the called strikeout and the swinging strikeout. “K” is for the swinging strikeout. Sadly, there is no backwards “K” on my keyboard, but that’s the difference between the two in my book.
Red or pink ink for the visiting team. Blue or black ink for the home team. On this topic, the choice is non-negotiable.
Don’t ask what the book looks like when more than nine batters come to the plate in the same half-inning. That’s when things can get messy.
Keeping a book also allows you to have a voice with others about what’s an error and what’s a base hit. Trust me when I say that these conversations can get heated.
The dots, the shaded diamonds, the “X” for when a runner is caught stealing—these are all part of the obsessive nature of the scorebook. And yes, for the record, I absolutely embrace the obsession.
Next time you’re at the ballpark or at home, and you don’t have a genuine rooting interest in who wins the game you’re watching, try to fill out a scorebook. It changes how you watch the game and allows you to have a personal stake in watching the full nine innings.
That’s all.
