Baseball Scorekeeping

Many fans enjoy keeping track of baseball action with easy abbreviations written on simple grids. Serious scorekeeping, however, is more complicated than just jotting down runs, outs, and the final score. Official scorekeeping requires a thorough knowledge of a large body of rules—many of which are confusing, and all of which must be followed carefully to ensure that the scorekeeper’s data are valid.
With confidence and enthusiasm, Andres Wirkmaa leads the reader through the daunting maze of rules that govern official scorekeeping. Chapters explain and clarify the official scorer’s duties, responsibilities and authority; the official scorer’s reports; and all the game-to-game details such as player listings, substitute batters and runners, out-of-turn batters, called and forfeited games, runs batted in, base hits, stolen bases, sacrifices, putouts, assists, double and triple plays, errors (and instances when errors are not charged), wild pitches and passed balls, bases on balls, strikeouts, earned runs, winning and losing pitchers, and saves. Also covered are statistics, percentage records, minimum standards for individual championships, and consecutive hitting and playing streaks.

Wyckoff, New Jersey, attorney Andres Wirkmaa is a retired baseball coach, has served as official scorekeeper for amateur baseball leagues, has been featured on the radio and in MLB articles as a scorekeeping expert, and is a member of SABR.

Andres Wirkmaa
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 278
Bibliographic Info: index
Copyright Date: 2003
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1448-2
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5513-3
Imprint: McFarland

Preface: Why Scorekeeping Is Important      1

Rule 10.01—The Duties, Responsibilities and Authority of the Official Scorer     5

Rule 10.02—Official Scorer’s Reports      16

Rule 10.03—Miscellaneous Matters      25

Player Listings      25

Substitute Batters and Runners      26

Proving a Box Score      27

Players Batting Out of Turn      28

Called and Forfeited Games      34

Rule 10.04—Crediting Runs Batted In      36

Rule 10.05—Crediting Base Hits      46

Rule 10.06—Withholding Credit for Base Hits      58

Rule 10.07—Determining the Value of Base Hits      70

Rule 10.08—Crediting Stolen Bases      82

Rule 10.09—Crediting Sacrifice Bunts and Sacrifice Flies      103

Rule 10.10—Crediting Putouts      118

Rule 10.11—Crediting Assists      126

Rule 10.12—Crediting Double Plays and Triple Plays      134

Rule 10.13—Charging Errors      140

Rule 10.14—Not Charging Errors      157

Rule 10.15—Charging Wild Pitches and Passed Balls      170

Rule 10.16—Walks      174

Rule 10.17—Strikeouts      179

Rule 10.18—Determining Earned Runs      185

Rule 10.19—Determining Winning and Losing Pitchers      218

Rule 10.20—Crediting Saves      230

Rule 10.21—The Duties of the Official Statistician      236

Rule 10.22—Formulas for Determining Percentage Records      239

Rule 10.23—Standards for Determining Seasonal Percentage Record Championships   252

Rule 10.24—Criteria for Consecutive Hitting and Playing Streaks     259

Index      267

“gives it to you in detail…a good index…tremendous depth…a lot of material here”—The SABR Bookshelf; “a marvelous book”—Baseball Digest; “every single scoring rule explaining how it works and should be interpreted…very complete…excellent”—Louisiana History; “excellent”—Sports Journal; “detailed…leads baseball fans through the maze of rules that govern official scorekeeping”—The Hoboken Reporter; “interesting and informative…thorough and meticulous…wonderful book to “dip into”…just for fun…when questions about scoring come up, you will find the answers here”—Newark Bears Fan.