Weekly Scoresheet

#91---CIN @ CLE, 3/24/2002

2010-12-12T17:19:00.000-05:00

There's nothing like the scoresheet from a run-of-the-mill exhibition game to cheer one up on a dark, snowy winter day. I certainly hope the Reds were playing a split squad, because that lineup is putrid.

#90---NYA @ NYN, 6/17/2001

2010-11-08T22:38:00.003-05:00

This Yankees/Mets game serves as a good illustration for why I prefer scoresheets that don't allocate space to statistical summaries--I rarely ever fill them in.

If you overlook 3-4-5, this Met lineup is pretty ghastly. Benny Agbayani was a fun player, but Desi Relaford, Rey Ordonez...Joe McEwing in *right field*? Not good, but they exploded for six in the bottom of the eighth to turn a 7-2 deficit into an 8-7 win in a rematch of the previous season's World Series.

#89---CLE @ BAL, 4/5/2000

2010-10-25T22:42:00.003-04:00

This was the second game of the season for the Indians and the Orioles in 2000. Charlie Manuel, in his first year as skipper, was tossed for arguing balls and strikes in the third inning. His frustration would have been understandable as this game was a preview of things to come with the 2000 Tribe. A five-run second, including two bases loaded walks, was not enough. Chuck Finley gave up four runs in five innings in his Cleveland debut, and Steve Reed gave up a three-run homer to Charles Johnson in relief. Johnson homered again off Scott Kamienicki in the eighth, and it was so bad that Bobby Witt came into get the last out. Things would only get worse as the season progressed.

#88---Home Run Derby, 7/13/1999

2010-10-19T15:59:00.002-04:00

I only scored two home run derbies, honest. I posted the 1998 one a couple years ago, and figured I'd get the embarrassment out of the way now by posting the second, so that my heirs who continue this blog won't be sitting around in 2089 posting home run derby scoresheets.

#87---COL @ ATL, 4/26/1998

2010-10-11T23:06:00.002-04:00

This game between the Rockies and Braves was pretty exciting, with Colorado scoring four in the first and two in the third in a rare stinker by Greg Maddux. Atlanta got back into it with five in the fourth, including a triple by Chipper Jones and a homer by Andruw Jones. But Jerry DiPoto (rare to see a future GM on a scoresheet) was able to record the save in the ninth, the Rockies' 7-6 lead secured with a big day by Vinny Castilla (single, double, 2 homers, steal, 3 runs, 5 RBI).

#86---CLE @ OAK, 4/3/1997

2010-09-27T15:26:00.002-04:00

This game was kept on my horrible Excel scoresheet, examples of which I've posted before. Oakland won 5-4 on Geronimo Berroa's eight-inning homer despite Kevin Mitchell's three-run shot for Cleveland in the second. Mark McGwire went deep in the fifth off Orel Hershiser, the first of 58 he would hit this season.

#85---Dominican Republic v. Venezuela, 2/7/2010 (Caribbean Series)

2010-09-20T12:30:00.000-04:00

The MLB Network has turned the Caribbean Series into either a great opportunity to watch meaningful baseball in February or a tremendous tease, depending on one's perspective. Yeah, it's nice to see some serious hardball action with some vaguely familiar names, but it lasts for a week and then there's a whole month until exhibition games return and two months before there is another game taken anywhere near as seriously. I prefer to see the glass as half-full.

#84---CLE @ HOU, 4/4/2009

2010-09-14T19:14:00.001-04:00

This exhibition game just before the season started featured a ninth-inning rally by the Indians off the (amazingly still in the majors) Doug Brocail. With one out in the ninth, Choo and Espino singled, but Ryan Garko popped out and the Tribe was down to their last out. Jamey Carroll was hit by a pitch, then Grady Sizemore tied the game with a single to right. A throwing error by Chris Johnson scored the go-ahead run.

I was surprised when looking over this scoresheet that just a year and a half ago Shin-Soo Choo was batting sixth in a Cleveland lineup.

#83---DET @ CLE, 9/20/2008

2010-09-04T00:46:00.000-04:00

I did not mess up the scanning of this sheet; it must have printed funny back in 2008 and I used it anyway. The Indians beat the Tigers in what was expected before the season to be a key late season game, but instead was a battle of two teams going nowhere, the Tigers collapsing and the Indians surging. Justin Verlander allowed four runs and made 97 pitches in four innings, and Shin-Soo Choo had a huge game with two singles, two walks, and a warning track fly.

#82---PIT @ CLE, 3/9/2007

2010-08-28T13:16:00.001-04:00

This spring training game was not very interesting. It did feature Adam Miller, the much-hyped Tribe pitching prospect, who had a great spring training but soon saw his career undone by injuries. Miller gave up a walk, an infield hit, induced a foul pop, and struck out three.

#81---BOS @ TEX, 4/3/2006

2010-08-21T00:41:00.001-04:00

This was an Opening Day game in 2006, with Kevin Millwood giving up five runs in five innings in his Texas debut. Kevin Youkilis batting eighth, Ian Kinsler ninth, and Jonathon Papelbon working the eighth are reminders that a lot of things change in baseball in four years.

#80---OAK @ BAL, 4/7/2005

2010-08-15T00:22:00.000-04:00

Oakland beat Baltimore 5-1 with Dan Haren pitching six, the only run he allowed being Brian Roberts' leadoff shot. Eric Byrnes' three-run homer off one of my favorite players, Steve Kline, gave them the lead in the eighth. What I like about this game, though, is it is one of the rare (102 games) appearances of Sammy Sosa as an Oriole. Also, the Baltimore lineup features two players that hit 500 home runs--and they batted fifth and sixth.

#79---OAK @ ANA, 4/18/2004

2010-08-06T23:18:00.000-04:00

Oakland beat up on Anaheim in this early season encounter, but the Angels would prevail in the end, besting the A's for the AL West title by one game. Ben Weber and his double pump glove action was one of my favorite pitchers to watch. Barry Zito was a tad inefficient with his pitches, making 102 in just six innings despite allowing just one run on four hits, one walk, and four strikeouts.

#78---BAL @ CLE, 4/16/2003

2010-08-01T23:37:00.002-04:00

Since Jake Westbrook was just traded by the Indians, I grabbed the first 2003 scoresheet I could find of his (if you haven't noticed, I generally cycle through seasons from 1998-present to pick the scoresheet of the week, with some earlier seasons sprinkled in). The Indians lost this game, but Westbrook pitched pretty well--it looks as if he was held to a 90 pitch limit as he tossed 5 2/3 allowing one run, two hits, three walks, and two strikeouts. Cleveland led 3-1 after Vizquel's fifth inning homer, but Billy Traber and Danys Baez let it slip away in the eighth and ninth, with Melvin Mora's homer to leadoff the latter frame the game-winner.

#77---DET @ CLE, 3/2/2002

2010-07-25T00:26:00.002-04:00

This spring training game featured three homers by each side, including a pair as part of a three-run ninth inning rally for the Tribe. I don't recall Chris Coste, Todd Dunwoody, or Brooks Kieschnick being in the organization. But what's really funny is that for some reason I wrote down "475 ft" as the distance for Kieschnick's homer. Sure it was.

#76---DET @ CLE, 4/20/2001

2010-07-16T17:31:00.000-04:00

I didn't track balls and strikes on this sheet--helpfully noted by "NO B/S", as if I might have thought this was a game in which every PA was resolved on the first pitch, including strikeouts and walks.

Self-snark aside, this was a pretty good game. The Indians led 3-1 after three, but Detroit scored two in the sixth and one in the seventh to go up. The Tribe tied it off Matt Anderson and CJ Nitkowski in the eighth, but stranded runners on first and third with one out. With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Einar Diaz singled home the winner off of Todd Jones. I have no recollection of Tiger catcher Cardona.

#75---NYA @ TOR, 6/6/2010

2010-07-10T12:35:00.003-04:00

This was a silly attempt to show what a combination scoresheet based on the Reisner (situational) method and a traditional scoring system might look like. There are two diamonds in each scorebox. The first is to record the situation (including outs, for which you circle 0, 1, or 2 although they didn't show up well in the scane) and baserunner advancement before the conclusion of the at bat, as you would in the Reisner system. The second is for tracing the runner's progress around the diamond, traditional style. You need not record how he advanced, since the Reisner portion does that for you, but it is helpful to mark stolen bases and CS that you'll want to credit to the individual's stat line.

Scoring like this is not particularly viable--it's basically scoring the game twice, once using the Resiner system and once traditionally. But it does give you both the situation and the traditional, individual-focused picture at the same time.

Unrelated note: If you're interested in LL Bean's scoring system, which I've touched on before here, you'll want to read my recent posts at Walk Like a Sabermetrician. The first mimics Bean's system. The second includes one of Bean's own scoresheets and his scoring key, thanks to Henry and the Bean company.

#74---CLE @ TB, 4/8/2000

2010-07-02T23:14:00.002-04:00

I always like highlighting games featuring Dave Burba. The Indians won this early season game at Tropicana Field 6-4 as Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome hit back-to-back homers in the fifth. Mo Vaughn's three-run shot in the bottom of the sixth concluded the scoring. Unfortunately, Burba was relieved after six by Scott Kamienicki, which is a thoroughly unholy thing to have happen.

#73---CLE @ MIN, 4/11/1999

2010-06-26T13:33:00.002-04:00

This was a wild early-season encounter won by the Indians 9-8. Plenty of offense to go around, from two-run homers by Jim Thome and Wil Cordero, to a triple and two doubles from Richie Sexson, to a two-out, bases-clearing triple by Todd Walker.

One thing you'll notice on the sheet in a few places (see Guzman's fourth-inning at bat for instance) is the presence of a "?". Long before it was a LOST episode, ? was my version of Phil Rizutto's WW for "Wasn't Watching". The ?s in Guzman's at bat indicate that I knew two pitches were thrown, but I either didn't know whether they were balls or strikes or what the sequence was.

The ? was pretty common in my early sheets, largely as the result of scoring a lot of games off of the radio. Now it's been eliminated, as in the GameTracker era one can simply get on the internet and look up whatever it was that you missed, whether due to broadcaster incompetence and inattention or your own.

#72---CLE @ FLA, 3/22/1998

2010-06-18T15:07:00.002-04:00

I don't think I've ever been as excited for a spring training game as I was for this 1998 encounter between the Indians and Marlins. I'm absolutely confident that I will never be more excited for a spring training game, unless on some trillion-to-one shot a descendant of mine ever plays in one. Seriously, it's a spring training game.

But I was all excited to see the Indians try to avenge their World Series loss to the Marlins by winning a meaningless game, and sure enough they did, 6-0. Believe it or not, it didn't erase the World Series from my memory.

#71---Norwich @ Akron-Canton, 4/21/1996

2010-06-11T14:30:00.003-04:00

This sheet comes from a Norwich(NYA)/Canton-Akron (CLE) AA game I attended in April, 1996. The scoring is horrible--using the diamond method without tracing the diamond makes for an illegible mess. Notable names in the game include Shane Spencer, Rickey Ledee, Enrique Wilson, Richie Sexson, Bruce Aven, and Alex Ramirez.

#70---STL @ PHI, 5/5/2010

2010-06-05T01:20:00.002-04:00

For 2010, I have expanded my coding system to allow for more detail, primarily about the location of batted balls. The outfield is broken down into 7l, 7, 78, 87, 8, 89, 98, 9, and 9l, with the l represented by a cursive l to avoid any confusion with my older scoresheets which used l for line drive. Additionally, there is s for shallow, d for deep, w for warning track/wall, and implied m for medium depth on outfield batted balls.

Examples on display in this sheet include but are not limited to:

* Rasmus' second inning double, a fly ball down the right field line and to the warning track (9l)
* Ibanez' second inning fly to left, caught in medium left-center (78)
* Ludwick's third inning fly to center, caught in medium center-right (89)
* Utley's fourth inning line drive to deep right
* Kendrick's fifth inning pop to second, caught in shallow right-center (98s)
* Rasmus' ninth inning fly to right, caught near the line and medium-deep (9l)

On hits, the location detail across the width of the field is listed next to the hit code itself (ie. =98l), but the depth is recorded as a subscript. For outs, all clarifying location detail is written as a subscript.

#69---CLE @ SEA, 7/26/2009

2010-05-28T22:44:00.003-04:00

This was the last game that Cliff Lee would pitch for the Indians before being traded to the Phillies. He pitched seven innings and allowed just two runs as Cleveland supported him with four homers. Of course, Lee would wind up in Seattle during the off-season.

#68---CLE @ MIN, 7/6/2008

2010-05-22T10:19:00.002-04:00

This was one of the few losses absorbed by Cliff Lee in his 2008 Cy Young season. The Indians led 3-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, but it from there it was slow death by one base advancements: walk, infield single, single, single, walk. The last eleven Cleveland batters were retired in order, enabling the Twins to win 4-3.

#67---CLE @ TOR, 7/8/2007

2010-05-15T01:30:00.002-04:00

The Indians won their division in 2007, but this 1-0 loss to the Blue Jays in the final game before the All-Star break was one of the more frustrating games of the season. Josh Towers was perfect through 5 2/3, finally allowing a hit to Josh Barfield. Cleveland finally managed to mount a scoring opportunity in the ninth inning, but they left the bases loaded.

Meanwhile, Paul Byrd had been matching Towers' zeroes, but a one-out double by Reed Johnson and single by Alex Rios allowed Toronto to record the game's only tally in the bottom of the ninth. The game required just over 208 pitches to complete.

#66---KC @ CLE, 9/13/2006

2010-05-01T00:55:00.002-04:00

There's nothing particularly notable about this mid-September scoresheet. It was not a very involved scoresheet by my standards, as I didn't bother to track pitches and used the diamond method. Ambiroix Burgos and Andy Cisco make appearances; I think those two will stick in my mind for some time to come despite having less than impressive careers.

#65---CLE @ LAA, 4/20/2005

2010-04-23T09:57:00.003-04:00

The Angels beat the Indians 2-0 behind former Tribe ace Bartolo Colon, who'd win the Cy Young award with a win-lucky campaign. Notable is the presence of Grady Sizemore down in the order; he'd quickly be moved up to #1 and hasn't hit down in the order since. Jake Westbrook pitched well in defeat for Cleveland, tossing an 8-inning CG, but yielding a tater to Chone Figgins of all people.

The Account-Form Scoresheet

2010-04-18T23:12:00.000-04:00

Most scoring systems endeavor to keep a chronological account of the game (at least in theory--only the Project Scoresheet system is purely linear, but one can reconstruct the game in order from a traditional scoresheet). However, what if one was only interested in recording the basic box score statistics of individual players, and not about preserving the game play-by-play?

For starters, you could certainly save a lot of paper. You could eliminate a lot of codes--there'd be no need to record wild pitches, passed balls, balks, and the like (remember, I said basic box score statistics). It would be possible to describe each batter's plate appearance in just a few characters.

As is the case with so many other baseball topics, one can turn to Bill James for a creative idea about how to do this. In the 1983 Abstract, he introduced what he called the account-form box score. It was a box score that retained much of the data from a scoresheet, yet was compact enough to be printed in a space no larger than that devoted to traditional box scores.

I recently threw together a new scoresheet that records only the information necessary to create an account-form box score of a game. I made a few tweaks to James' coding system, but for the most part I just used it as is.

First, the ways to reach base:

S = single
D = double
T = triple
H = home run
W = walk
I = intentional walk
B = hit batter
E = error
f = fielder's choice (at end of code)

Three baserunning events are noted, by use of a lowercase letter after the on-base code:

s = steal
c = caught stealing
x = other out on base (That is charged to the runner, like a pickoff or out advancing when not forced. If the runner is retired on a force, no "x" is added).

Outs are recorded in typical scorekeeping notation--a ground out to short is "63", a fly to right is "9", a strikeout is "K". Double plays get a D prefix--"D643". A sacrifice hit gets a b suffix (for bunt); a sac fly needs no modifier because it will involve a RBI. If a fielder's choice results in a batter-runner not reaching base (i.e. it is the third out of the inning, so the batter-runner never actually gains first), then it is recorded with a "f" suffix (for example, 46f).

When a batter gets a RBI for driving in someone other than himself, James uses a ', so D' is a RBI double. D" would be a two-run double. When three other runners score, an exclamation point is used, so a bases-clearing double is D!. Thus, a solo homer is just H, a three-run homer is H", and a grand slam is H! A sac fly to left is 7'.

In James' system, batter-runners that reached base and do not end up scoring are given lower case symbols...s, d, t, etc. If you are keeping a paper scoresheet in this style, this is problematic, as you'll have to do a lot of erasing. So what I did instead was embolden the codes of batter-runners who scored. When paper scoring, this is easily accomplished by tracing a pencil marking with black ink. When keeping a paper scoresheet, it is also helpful to mark off the innings, which I did with a number in the far left portion of the box.

The biggest drawback to the account-form box as James envisioned it was that pitcher records are hard to read. James simply noted the pitchers by the number of batters they faced each time through the order. Suppose for instance that CC Sabathia faced 32 hitters, Phil Hughes faced one, and Mariano Rivera faced five. James notation would be:
Sabathia (9995), Hughes(xxx1), Rivera (xxx32)

Sabathia faced nine hitters the first three times through the order, than five the fourth. Hughes faced no batters the first three times through, and one on the fourth. Rivera faced no batters the first three times, the final three on the fourth, and two on the fifth.

This makes it a chore to read through the account and tally up a pitcher's statistics (the same issue exists for batters of course, but it is a lot easier to read across a row to take in the result of three to six plate appearances than it is to read up and down column to take in the result of potentially dozens of plate appearances). There's no easy solution--the best option might be to just give each pitcher a basic line, perhaps in the format of (IP H R ER W K Dec), like:

Sabathia (7.2 8 3 2 2 6 W) or Sabathia (7.2, 8, 3, 2, 2, 6, W)

Also, I tend to think that a better notation to indicate batters faced for the above example would be something like:

Sabathia (1-32), Hughes (33), Rivera (34-38)

This does not solve the problem with reading a pitcher's performance I described above, and it may force you to count off by nine (9, 18, 27, 36, etc.) in order to figure out where to start reading the scoresheet to find a particular pitcher, but I think it's more intuitive and it saves a little space that is being given back by listing out pitcher lines. Of course, counting off by nine shouldn't be a problem for those versed in systems (such as Project Scoresheet) that use numbered boxes.

Another issue is how to list substitutions. When printing a box score, it is easy to insert an extra line for substitutes and indent it. But with a pre-printed scoresheet, it's trickier. What I've done is use letters (a, b, c, d, etc.) to show substitutions. The timing of the substitutions is noted by using the first time through the batting order that the player appeared. For example:

[a Giambi 4] indicates that Giambi pinch hit, with his first PA coming the fourth time through the order in the batting order slot where a is listed.
[d PR Guzman 5] indicates that Guzman pinch-ran the fifth time through the order.
[c 6 Everett 3] indicates that Everett was a defensive replacement at shortstop, and that his first PA (if in fact he got one) would come the third-time through the order. The exact time he entered the game defensively is not recorded, as it isn't on a typical basic box score.

This allows the scoresheet to be more compact, but it does make it a little tougher to quickly read batting lines for lineup slots in which multiple players appeared.

Honestly, I don't have a lot of use for an account-form scoresheet myself; it's not detailed enough for my tastes as a scorekeeper. It's the box score that I want--I want to be able to get on the internet in the morning and read a mini-scoresheet rather than a box score. Which line tells you more, and more importantly IMO tells you a better story:

63, K, H", 9, W

or

4 1 1 3 1 1
with a note below saying HR: Player X

or

4 1 1 3 1 1 HR
as the more helpful Baseball-Reference box score does?

It's true that the account-form style requires you to do a little counting in your head if you want to know H-AB, or runs scored, or the other box score categories. However, I'd argue that it's very easy to do that sort of addition, and that it also is a cosmetic improvement--there are an awful lot of zeros in box scores.

Incidentally, this is the same reason that all of the scoresheets I design myself omit columns in which to record batting lines. I'd rather devote that space to larger scoreboxes and do some math in my head than waste a bunch of space on columns I'll have to fill in to create a box score that I could just as easily read on the internet. Pitchers are a different story, as it is much harder to get a quick read on their performance as the number of scoreboxes under consideration is much larger (and more spread out) than for a batter.

Any site that implemented an account-form box score would instantly get all of my morning box score hits. I'm a little surprised that someone hasn't implemented it or something similar on online just to stand out, as there are so many places that you can go to get box scores. As it stands now, only Baseball-Reference offers something truly unique.

Below is an account-form scoresheet for Cincinnati @ Milwaukee, 4/10/2008, copied from a scoresheet I kept in a different format. I simply typed the account into Excel, although ideally I would have paper-scored it and scanned. It will be easier to read this way though. A drawback is that since I am using the cells in the spreadsheet, if a leadoff hitter scored, the inning number is in bold as well. I did not include pitcher lines, just the batters they faced:

Let me go through batter-by-batter and write what they did in English:

Patterson: grounded to second, grounded to second, grounded to second, grounded to second, flied to center
Keppinger: grounded to short, popped to short, grounded to pitcher, intentional walk, grounded to pitcher
Griffey: struck out, flied to center, walk, hit into double play
Phillips: flied to right, flied to right, struck out, grounded to second
Dunn: grounded to first (a pop to first would have been marked 3^; although James used 3 for a pop to first and 3- for a grounder to first), grounded to first (pitcher covering), single (scored), grounded to short
Encarnacion: grounded to third, walk (scored), two-run home run, single
Hatteberg: walk, single (put out on base), double (scored), grounded to second
Bako: struck out, RBI double, RBI single, walk
Harang: sac bunt to first, struck out, single
Votto: flied to center

Weeks: popped to third, flied to center, hit into fielder's choice at second, popped to second
Gross: double, flied to center, grounded to second
Counsell: hit into fielder's choice at short
Fielder: grounded to short, flied to left, flied to right, popped to third
Braun: grounded to short, popped to third, grounded to third, struck out
Hall: double (scored), grounded to short, grounded to short, grounded to second (via pitcher)
Hart: sac bunt to first, grounded to short, struck out
Villanueva: sac bunt to pitcher, struck out
Kapler: grounded to first (pitcher covering)
Kendall: grounded to short, single, single

#64---KC @ CLE, 9/17/2004

2010-04-17T10:49:00.002-04:00

Continuing the Indians/Royals theme for another week is this 2004 sheet. There are two notable extra-base hits in this one; first, Travis Hafner tripled off the center field wall in the bottom of the sixth. He was still removed for a pinch-runner (Lou Merloni, who I'd pretty much forgotten had played for the Tribe) after walking in the eighth. The more impressive one was Abraham Nunez (batting third no less) hitting an inside-the-park-homer on a line drive to right field to lead off the seventh.

#63---KC @ CLE, 6/24/2003

2010-04-10T09:08:00.004-04:00

The Royals beat the Indians 3-1 in this mundane June game. I just like some of the names; Ken Harvey, the big singles hitting 1B/DH for KC; was it Aaron Guiel, a forgettable outfielder?; Shane Spencer batting cleanup for the Tribe; and Kansas City's starting pitcher, the one-time big prospect (compared to Tom Glavine, of course) Chris George.

This seems like a lot longer than seven years ago, to be honest. Maybe that can be chalked up as a positive of rooting for a bad baseball teams--they make the summer seem longer, they don't jog the memory as quickly as the good ones years later. They make time seem just a little slower, just a little more forgiving. Alright, maybe I'm taking it too far; after all, this was the last year the Royals finished with a winning record.

#62---CLE @ DET, 5/21/2002

2010-04-02T21:46:00.002-04:00

Back-to-back home runs by Dmitri Young and Randall Simon. Hopefully no sausages were harmed in this game. Also, the Indians simultaneously had Ricky Gutierrez, Bruce Aven, Einar Diaz, and Jolbert Carbera in the lineup, which is why 2002 was the worst season to watch in my time as a fan.

#61---CIN @ CLE, 6/8/2001

2010-03-27T14:15:00.003-04:00

The Reds beat the Indians 7-4 in this game; there was nothing particularly noteworthy about it. I believe I may have picked this sheet out because it illustrates a mid-batter pitching change; Rob Bell was pulled after the third pitch to the 6th place hitter in the 3rd inning (hence the entry code for Brower of 6-3(AC), with "A" for after and "C" representing the third pitch)). Brower was a eminently forgettable pitcher for the Indians from 1999-2000, but I used to mockingly call him "The Future" because Tribe radio announcer Tom Hamilton once referred to him as part of the future of the pitching staff. If Jim Brower were truly your future, it would probably be time to sell short.

#60---CLE @ KC, 9/23/2000

2010-03-22T00:48:00.003-04:00

Unfortunately, I have now exhausted my supply of guest scoresheets. Please feel free to send in one of your sheets any time, as I'd love to continue to showcase scorekeeping diversity on this blog.

2000 was a frustrating year to be an Indian fan, as the team was ravaged by injuries, particularly to the pitching staff. The results were on full display in this game as Charlie Nagy, nearing the end of the line with a 8.21 ERA in 57 innings, started and was relieved by luminaries Jamie Brewington, Chris Nichting, Cam Carincross, and Chris Haney. Meanwhile, the offense was stymied by Blake Stein and Jose Santiago.

Guest Scoresheet #5: Isaac Lin, MON @ NYN 10/3/2004

2010-03-12T21:57:00.004-05:00

Scorer: Isaac Lin
Game: MON @ NYN, 9/24/2004

Guest Scoresheet #4: Isaac Lin, PHI @ MON 9/24/2004

2010-03-06T01:44:00.003-05:00

Scorer: Isaac Lin
Game: PHI @ MON, 9/24/2004

Here is Isaac's description of his scoresheets (a second example will be posted next week):

"I use my own version of Alex Reisner's situational scoring
scoresheet (I based it on the one he made available before branding
his system the Reisner system). The primary change I made was to
remove some redundancy in the pitch count section, in order to make
room for notes.

The last Expos game I attended was their last home victory ever, on
Friday, September 24, 2004, against Philadelphia. I was a bit late and
so didn't score the first four Phillie batters. I just realized now
that I mislabelled my note on the distance for Termel Sledge's HR; it
should be marked as a note for box 22. In the top of the 7th, a group
came down from the bleachers and lined up in the walkway behind the
lower tier of the 1st base-side stands, each person holding one
letter, spelling out a plea: "Jackie Robinson and Montreal made history
Mr. Selig keep the memory alive!" Alas, it was for naught...

I watched the last Expos game ever on TV: October 4, 2004, against
New York. The broadcasters kept raising random bits of trivia, like
there were 620 Expos players in 36 seasons, and I wrote down a few
of them. In the top of the ninth, some of the fans started chanting
"Let's go Expos", a nice nod to history. First base coach Jerry
Morales gave the game ball to Frank Robinson. It was a sad moment for
me to see the end of the Expos. Normally I fill in the game totals
after the last pitch, but I wasn't able to bring myself to do it, and
they remain blank."

Guest Scoresheet #3: Mark Davey, MIL @ MIN 5/22/2009

2010-02-27T02:35:00.000-05:00

Scorer: Mark Davey
Website: BaseballBingo.org
Game: MIL @ MIN, 5/22/2009

Mr. Davey sent me the first five innings of a scoresheet using his linear scorecard, a download and full description of which you can find at his website. The linear scorecard is inspired by Alex Reisner's plain-paper system, allowing one to keep a Project Scoresheet account of the game on a very simple form. Since it is based on the Project Scoresheet system, scoring is completely linear with no backtracking. Mark's form allows one to keep a game in the plain-paper style while still having a pre-printed form to use.

Guest Scoresheet #2: Daniel Wind, All-Star Game, 7/14/2009

2010-02-20T00:35:00.000-05:00

Scorer: Daniel Wind
Game: All-Star Game, 7/14/2009
Scorecard source: Baseball Scorecard

Here is Daniel's description of his scorecards:

"My own particular quirk is that I usually bring two pens to a game, to match each team's colors (as much as you really can out of a pack of five pens). I realize this is insane, but it makes the cards look a lot nicer. And since this particular game was probably the only chance I'd ever get to see an All-Star Game in person, I figured I might as well go all out and match the colors to the teams of each individual player. (My one disappointment was that Andrew Bailey didn't get into the game--brought my green pen for nothing.)"

Guest Scoresheet #1: David Solomon, MIL @ STL 10/2/2009

2010-02-13T00:36:00.003-05:00

Scorer: David Solomon
Website(s): Twitter @solomonsside, ktrs.com
Game: MIL @ STL, 10/2/2009

The first guest submission comes from David Solomon of KTRS in St. Louis. David kept this sheet from the press box and actually entered the scoring directly into Excel, which he experimented with for the last few games of the season. (Previously, he printed the sheet and scored on paper).

I Want Your Scoresheets

2010-02-06T14:03:00.002-05:00

I realize that no one visits this site, but in case anyone is out there and reads this, I would like to appeal to you to send me one of your scoresheets. This site is currently all about my scorekeeping, and I'd like to expand its horizon a little bit to showcase other people's scoring.

Don't worry about your scoresheet not being good enough or interesting enough or unique enough or whatever other excuse you might offer to be shy. There's no such thing as a wrong way to keep score, and I'd like this site to help display the myriad of ways in which baseball fans record the game.

All I ask is that the file be around 500 KB or smaller, in GIF, BMP, or JPG format, and that you also write a little bit about it (if it's larger, I might edit it a little to make it more manageable). It can be as little as a sentence or as long as a page or two. You can write about your method of keeping score, scorekeeping in general, your memory of the game in question--anything you like. Also, if you kept the game on a commercial scoresheet, please give the name of the company/designer so that they can get a little bit of a plug (and hopefully not send me cease and desist letters). If you have your own designed sheet that you'd like to offer for others to download, I'd be happy to post it on my Tripod scoresheets site. If you have your own baseball blog or website or Twitter feed that you'd like to share, by all means, include the link.

I don't expect anyone to actually take me up on this, but I had to try. There's a dearth of scorekeeping information on the internet--the sites I link in the sidebar form a fairly comprehensive list. I'd like to make this site a place for the diversity of scoring systems and forms to be on display, and it can't be that as long as it's just my own sheets. Email me (weeklyscoresheet AT gmail dot com) if you'd like to share.

#59---DET @ CLE, 7/26/1999

2010-02-06T13:41:00.001-05:00

I chose this scoresheet because it features Dave Burba, who is an OSU product. On this day he allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings, striking out six and walking none, as the Indians beat the Tigers 6-3. Manny Ramirez left the game in the bottom of the third after being hit by a pitch.

#58---NYA @ MON, 6/11/1998

2010-01-30T20:32:00.002-05:00

It has been a long time since I last posted here, thanks to my scanner deciding not to work. I don't have a lot of use for my home scanner other than this site, so I did not have the necessary motivation to figure out what was wrong until now (it turned out the be the software), nor did I have the necessary motivation to sneak some scans in at work, go to the library, or use any of the other means by which I could have scanned in some scoresheets.

Moving along, I included this sheet because it's one of the few I have that features the Montreal Expos. Unfortunately, I couldn't spell Guerrero (I haven't heard much from Guerro over the last twelve years), but he had the big hit, a two-out, three-run double in the seventh to cap a seven-run inning. He was thrown out by Paul O'Neill trying to stretch it into a triple, but Montreal went on to win 7-5 against one of the greatest teams of all-time.

#57---COL @ CLE, 3/1/2009

2009-04-13T00:06:00.002-04:00

Here I tried a similar approach to trace the diamond--trace a square. I did this just for the sake of experiment, not out of any particular affinity for the square as a means to trace the runner’s progress. I prefer open spaces to diamond diagrams anyway, and the square eliminates the aesthetic pluses of using a diamond.

As you can see, I marked reaching first base with the bottom line of the square, and went from there. You may also notice that some of the squares are more like rectangles, and wonder what the distinction is. The answer is that there is none; my artistic skills are so non-existent that even drawing a square can be a challenge. Of course, you could make a sheet with preprinted squares or dots mapping out the four corners if you wanted to make them look nice. But for me, this was just a one-time trial to mix things up.

#56---Dominican Republic v. Venezuela, 2/5/2009 (Caribbean Series)

2009-04-07T10:13:00.002-04:00

For this game, I decided to attempt to trace baserunner progress with diamonds, despite not having any diamonds or dots pre-printed on the sheet. A lot of people do this all the time, but I’m not much of an artist (nor do I really like the diamond trace method anyway), and so I naturally don’t usually score that way. You can see from the Venezuela runs in the bottom of the third that my completed diamonds were that in name only.

With this win, Venezuela improved to 4-0 in the Caribbean Series and eliminated the now 1-3 Dominican Republic from contention. They would go on to clinch the series the next day by defeating Mexico.

#55---Venezuela v. Dominican Republic, 2/2/2009 (Caribbean Series)

2009-03-30T11:22:00.002-04:00

This opening day Caribbean Series matchup was the first game I had the opportunity to watch and score in 2009. Venezuela starter Brad Knox pitched 6 1/3 no-hit innings, albeit with five walks. After the fifth walk, he had made 88 pitches and was removed. His replacement Yohan Pino promptly served up a game-tying homer to Ronnie Belliard.

In the ninth, though, Venezuela recaptured the lead as Luis Maza improved his day at the plate to 4-5, and Francisco Butto struck out the Dominican side in order to close out the game.

#54---Japan v. Cuba, 3/20/2006 (World Baseball Classic final)

2009-03-23T12:17:00.002-04:00

Japan won the first WBC title with two four-run innings; in the first they established command of the game, and in the ninth they managed to take a commanding 10-5 lead after Cuba had chipped away. Daisuke Matsuzaka started and allowed just one run in four innings while striking out five. After Frederich Cepada’s two run homer in the eighth brought Cuba back into the game, Akinori Otsuka was summoned, and while he allowed a run in the ninth, he fanned Cuba’s last two hitters (including star Yulieski Gourriel for the final out) to clinch the title.

And the rest of the semi-free world rejoiced (or at least this fan did).

#53---United States v. Korea, 3/13/2006 (World Baseball Classic)

2009-03-16T00:59:00.000-04:00

After the US opened the second round of the WBC by scratching out a win over Japan, one could have been forgiven if they viewed the loss to Canada as just a hiccup. But this game against Korea gave American fans serious cause for concern. Starter Dontrelle Willis labored, making 58 pitches in three frames while walking four, hitting a batter, and surrendering three runs.

It was in the fourth that the Wheelers came off. With two outs, Dan Wheeler surrendered a double to second baseman Kim. At this point, Buck Martinez decided it was a good idea to walk the red-hot Seung-Yeop Lee intentionally. Korea brought up a major leaguer (Hee Seop Choi) as a pinch-hitter, and his three run blast to right essentially ended the game right then and there.

#52---Puerto Rico v. Cuba, 3/10/2006 (World Baseball Classic)

2009-03-09T11:50:00.001-04:00

This opening round game caused a lot of people, myself included, to downplay Cuba’s chances to advance deep into the WBC. Oops.

Puerto Rico simply had their way with Cuba in front of a friendly crowd in San Juan, getting two-run shots from Bernie Williams, Alex Cintron, and Carlos Beltran. The short leash granted to the Cuban pitcher was on display as Gonzalez was pulled after walking the bases loaded with two down in the first, and three pitchers were used in the fourth inning alone. Things got a little chippy in the seventh as Jose Santiago hit Cuban batter Moreno with two outs, getting himself and manager Jose Oquendo tossed. In the end, though, Cuba would get the last laugh as they would beat Puerto Rico in the second round.

#51---United States v. South Africa, 3/10/2006 (World Baseball Classic)

2009-03-02T00:00:00.001-05:00

After the US lost to Canada, their final first round game against South Africa was an absolute must-win. South Africa was actually competitive against Canada, but still there was little tension, and for good reason. Roger Clemens gave up just one hit (a groundball up the middle) in 4 1/3 innings of work while striking out six, and the US unleashed an offensive assault, putting up crooked numbers in the first three frames. Ken Griffey led the barrage, going 4-4 with two homers, three runs scored, and 7 RBI, while Derrek Lee chipped in at 3-4 with a homer, three runs, and 4 RBI. The mercy rule ended the game after five.

#50---Cuba v. Panama, 3/8/2006 (World Baseball Classic)

2009-02-23T00:05:00.001-05:00

This opening round game in San Juan is, as of this moment, the only extra inning game in WBC history. Surprisingly, Panama was able to take Cuba to eleven before falling 8-6.

While this was a big surprise in retrospect, perhaps only matched on an individual game level by South Africa’s near-miss against Canada, it had not yet reached that status as Panama had yet to be no-hit by The Netherlands and some observers (myself among them) still doubted Cuba as a championship contender. It took two Cuban runs in the seventh to pull the game even at four, and they would take the lead in the top of the ninth on Yulieski Gourriel’s two-run, two-out homer. But Panama fought back in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases with none out, getting a one-out single from Olmedo Saenz to push one across, then tying the game when Agnoly was hit with two outs. Ruben Rivera had a chance to win it, but he popped to second.

In the eleventh, Cuba staged a two-out rally, and in the bottom of the frame, Carlos Lee flew to left on a 3-1 pitch as the potential tying run.

A Review of “John Dewan’s Stat of the Week Baseball Scorebook”

2009-02-16T09:45:00.000-05:00

Let me preface this review by saying that I like John Dewan’s work, particularly on fielding metrics, and with one exception, everything I’ve ever purchased from ACTA Publications has been great (this includes Dewans’ Fielding Bible, The Bill James Handbook, The Bill James Gold Mine, The Hardball Times Baseball Annual, and The Hardball Times Season Preview). Unfortunately, the one exception is the product I’m reviewing today.

This is without a doubt the worst scorebook I have ever purchased. I will quote from the product description, as it provides a decent framework for explaining why I didn’t like it:

Printed on sturdy cardstock with perforated sheets

This is true; it will become redundant for me to keep saying that, so let me assure you: the good folks at ACTA did not lie in describing their product. While it is printed on sturdy people and has perforated sheets, it doesn’t have any sort of outside backing at all. You’re going to have to take the sheet out and use a clipboard or something.

this practical scorebook will quickly become your preferred way to score a baseball game

Probably not, but you have to try to sell it.

It includes twelve Stats of the Week from baseball statistician John Dewan, owner of Baseball Info Solutions.

Big dummy that I am, I did not realize that having 12 Stats of the Week would equal have 12 scoresheets. I guess I should have figured that out; but they also could have told you that there were only 12 scoresheets in the thing.

The Scorebook also allows users to score both teams in a game on one sheet of paper, allowing them to pull it out of the Scorebook and keep it for years to come.

True again, but don’t most scorebooks? How many scorebooks have you had that needed two sheets, or one sheet front and back, to score one team?

Of course, there are twelve scoresheets, and you need both sides to score one game, so this book can only score six games. Even at $5, that’s 83 cents a game, one of the least cost effective scorebooks of all-time.

John Dewan’s Stat of the Week Baseball Scorebook™ also includes directions for John Dewan's own personal scoring method

It does, and Mr. Dewan is free to score games however he’d like. Again, it’s probably my fault for assuming too much, but I assumed that since Mr. Dewan was involved with Project Scoresheet, his personal scoring method would have some interesting touches to it. I’m sorry to report that the most unique thing about is that he doesn’t really track baserunner movement at all, instead just making dots in their boxes if they happen to score (and noting when an advance occurs on a non-PA outcome (steal, wild pitch, etc.)). Otherwise, it’s basically the standard system described in every ballpark scorecard in the last century.

Now if you like to score games like that, great. I’m not going to tell you not to use that system, or any other scoring system. But please don’t sell it to me as his “personal scoring method” (again, this is not a lie, as everyone’s system has some personal flair to it) when it is pretty milquetoast.

The scoresheet itself is as bland as it gets…the stat of the week takes up a good sixth of the page on the left margin, and then there are boxes for each batter in twelve innings. If you like boxes to record stats at the end of the game, you will like the fact that there are big roomy boxes for AB, R, H, RBI, W, K, SB/CS, and other. There is plenty of room to record R, H, E, and LOB at the end of each inning. There is room for six pitchers plus their decision, IP, R/ER, W, K, and Other, and a spacious box for notes. And of course there are places to record the basic game data like date and time.

What has always bothered me about these kind of boxes is that they eat up space on the page, and leave you with tiny scoreboxes. And that’s exactly what this scorebook has--tiny scoreboxes with little room to keep a detailed account of the game. The net result is that if you are only concerned with the amount of space to record the actual game account, you are hardly better off with this scorebook than with the standard ballpark programs, unless it is a really bad one.

So, in summary:

* expensive (~ 80 cents a game)
* not a lot of room to score
* requires front and back to score a complete game
* good if you like a very basic account with lots of room for stats

By all means, support the good folks at ACTA and buy some of their books. I particularly recommend The Hardball Times Baseball Annual, but any of the aforementioned books are also worth picking up. But I’d pass on the Stat of the Week Scorebook.

#49--Puerto Rico v. Netherlands, 3/8/2006 (World Baseball Classic)

2009-02-16T09:29:00.002-05:00

This was a first round game from the San Juan pool which also included Cuba and Panama. The Dutch rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game after 5, but Puerto Rico added two in the sixth. When Ivan Rodriguez and Carlos Beltran hit back-to-back homers to lead off the seventh, Dutch skipper Robert Eenhorn snapped and was tossed.

Note the presence of a young reliever for the Dutch team who was not well-known at the time: Jair Jurrjens.

#48---Canada v. United States, 3/8/2006 (World Baseball Classic)

2009-02-08T23:57:00.003-05:00

If any notion that the US would cakewalk through the WBC survived the opener against Mexico, it was shattered when Canada jumped to a 8-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth. Although the US tallied six in the bottom of the frame, capped by Jason Varitek's grand slam, they would not score again, and 8-6 would be the final. The US would need a win over South Africa and some inexplicable but perfectly feasible combination of events in the Canada/Mexico game to advance to the second round.

Note Adam Stern's inside-the-park homer to lead off the fifth inning for the Canadians.

#47---Mexico v. United States, 3/7/2006 (World Baseball Classic)

2009-02-02T10:42:00.002-05:00

This was the first game played by the US and Mexico in the WBC. It was a pitcher's duel, with solo homers from Derrek Lee and Chipper Jones accounting for the only runs. Looking at the substitutions, you can see that Buck Martinez and the Americans were treating it much more as an all star-type game, although in fairness they had much more depth to substitute, and while Jones came in for ARod, he hit a key homer.

#46---Dominican Republic v. Venezuela, 3/7/2006 (World Baseball Classic)

2009-01-26T10:51:00.003-05:00

This may have been the most anticipated game of the first round of the WBC as it matched two top powers. Of course, in the end neither of these teams would make it to the championship round, but this game didn't really disappoint.

Neither Bartolo Colon (DR) or Johan Santana (Ven) were able to get deep into the game (nor were they expected to), but Colon got the better of it with 3 shutout innings versus Santana's two runs allowed in 3 1/3. Adrian Beltre's three-run homer in the fifth off Carlos Zambrano seemed to put the DR in charge at 6-1, but Venezuela got four runs over the next three frames, highlighted by Miguel Cabrera and Edgardo Alfonzo circuit clouts.

In the top of the ninth, though, both David Ortiz and Beltre hit their second homers of the game, each two-run shots, to put Venezuela away.

#45--China v. Korea, 3/3/2006 (World Baseball Classic)

2009-01-20T12:57:00.003-05:00

This was the first World Baseball Classic game I had the opportunity to score (this was on the second day of the tournament); it was actually played on March 4 but I put it down as March 3 as the time zone situation slipped my mind.

It was no contest as Korea pounded China. Seung Yeop Lee continued his WBC of terror by going 4-4 with two homers and five RBI.

I don't mean to sound flippant at all, but it is a real pain to write down the lineup for a 100% Korean team. There were five Lees, three Kims, and two Parks. I think next time I might try using first names. Westerners reverse the Korean naming convention, but there's something to be said for Park Chan-ho.

#44---HOU @ CLE, 3/2/2008

2009-01-13T11:54:00.002-05:00

This was the first game I scored in 2008, which is always an exciting occasion (mostly because it also by definition is the first game I had an opportunity to watch/listen to/attend, not so much because of the scoring). There isn’t too much of interest here other than that the Astros did not get a hit until the sixth and the Indians battered them in the late innings.

#43---CHN v. SEA, 3/30/2007

2009-01-06T10:36:00.003-05:00

I am going to go with a Spring Training theme for the next two weeks before turning my attention to the World Baseball Classic. This game was played in Las Vegas between the Cubs and the Mariners, and I kept this sheet on a dot scoresheet I use. It looks a lot cleaner from a zoomed out view than it does up close or when it is on the page in front of you.

One note is that I did not specify which Chicago team it was. This was an oversight on my part; I have a protocol for the two team cities which I simply did not follow in this case. A game between Chicago and Seattle would usually not have any specification, because I would assume that it was the White Sox since they are in the AL. If it was the Cubs, I would usually identify them as “Chicago N”. However, if it was a World Series game between those two teams, I would just use “Chicago” as the note that it was a World Series game would indicate that it must be the Cubs.

If the Dodgers played the Mets, I would call them “Los Angeles N” and “New York N” because one could just as easily assume that it was the Angels and the Yankees.

#42---ATL @ LA, 4/5/2006

2008-12-30T09:55:00.001-05:00

The Dodgers jumped all over Horacio Ramirez with four in the first and one in the fifth, but Odalis Perez coughed up five himself in the top of the third, capped by Wilson Betemit’s two-run bomb. Three more in the fourth put the Braves in front, but the Dodgers matched that in the seventh. Atlanta’s run off Franquelis Osoria in the eighth, on Matt Diaz’ two out double, was the game winner

#41---CLE @ LAA, 5/10/2005

2008-12-23T23:59:00.000-05:00

I included this game as a cautionary tale about scoring and as encouragement for any beginner who has ever been flustered. This game, which was pretty good on its own merits, a 5-4 Angels win in a matchup of CC Sabathia and Paul Byrd (who of course would become an Indian himself in 2006). But note that the game was played in LA, and the pitchers listed as home are…Indians. Oops.

#40---DET @ CLE, 3/6/2004

2008-12-16T10:32:00.001-05:00

This early spring training game was won 10-8 by the Indians with a four run eighth inning. Ernie Young’s two-run single drove home the go-ahead runs.

What I like about this scoresheet is the appearance of Grady Sizemore as a pinch-runner for Matt Lawton in the bottom of the fifth. He would subsequently come to the plate twice and draw a walk each time, a nice way to make an impression on this observer. This sort of thing observed years later is what make scoring spring training games worth it.

It is even more fun when the player in question is one who was not a big-time prospect. While few expected that Sizemore would be the player that he is, he was certainly well-known as he had been included in the Bartolo Colon trade. If you look at an old sheet and find a sleeper prospect playing in the late innings of a blowout who winds up making good, it’s kind of cool.

#39---NYA @ CLE, 7/9/2003

2008-12-09T10:03:00.003-05:00

In honor of CC Sabathia's (seemingly) impending move to pinstripes, here is a game he lost to the Yankees in 2003. Three walks, an infield hit, and an error enabled New York to score three in the first, and that was all they would need, as David Wells continued what seemed to be his mastery of the Indians.

Batting ninth at third base for Cleveland was Jhonny Peralta. With talk that he could move to third if the Indians acquire a middle infielder, it is interesting to be reminded that yes, he has played third base before. When he played third in a September game this season, I had no recall of his time at third in '03. But here it is, ony my own scoresheet. If I didn't trust the record books, I'd have to trust that. Memory is nice, but inadequate.

#38---LA @ STL, 7/5/2002

2008-12-02T00:05:00.004-05:00

Here's a great scorekeeping tip for you, that will make you look really intelligent should you ever start a vanity blog of your own scoresheets: forget to write the date down on the sheet. A trip to Baseball-Reference revealed that it was July 5, 2002.

The Dodgers scored in the top of the first, but a Pujols homer put St. Louis in front in their half of the inning, and they added two in the second and another in the fifth. But LA came back and led 6-5 going into the bottom of the ninth. Eric Gagne was summoned in the ninth, but Miguel Cairo and Kerry Robinson singled to put men on second and third with nobody out. Fernando Vina was intentionally walked, and it paid off as Placido Polanco hit back to the box for a 123 double play. Gagne coaxed an Edmonds warning track fly, and the Dodgers held on.

#37---KC @ CLE, 9/20/2001

2008-11-25T13:00:00.002-05:00

This sheet is included here as an example of how not to keep score. You can’t see it from the scan, but in the sixth inning I switched to scoring in pen. I don’t know why I did this, particularly in the middle of a game, but I did.

There are some people who swear by scoring with ink. If you can pull it off, more power to you, but for me, it’s a disaster. I am too impatient, as I want to write down everything as soon as it happens instead of taking a second to make sure the pitch was actually a ball, or to wait for the official scorer’s ruling. Raul Ibanez’ double in the seventh inning illustrates why pencil is imperative for me.

I don’t know what on earth I was thinking when I wrote down “15” for Alomar’s at bat in the first. A pitcher to third putout of a batter-runner would be worth explaining in more detail. In fact, it was a lineout to third, so it should have been “L5”. So there’s another tip if you are incompetent like me: avoid lower case letters that might be confused for numerals.

#36--OSU v. UM, 5/25/2005

2008-11-18T12:27:00.001-05:00

It is the week of the year in which my attention is fixated on the eternal struggle between good and evil, and so here is a scoresheet of one battle in that war. This 2005 game was in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The Buckeyes scored two runs in the second, but a ninth inning run by UM tied the game. In the twelfth, OSU regained the lead on Matt Angle’s two-out single, but back-to-back Wolverine doubles tied the game, and Angle’s error made it a runner at third and one out. After Ohio walked the bases loaded, Rory Meister coaxed a 323 double play and the threat was averted.

In the thirteenth, Jason Zoeller drove home Jacob Howell with a double and Paul Farinacci cracked a three-run homer to make it 7-3. Rory Meister struck out the side in the bottom of the frame (albeit while allowing two singles), and the Bucks were staying in the winner’s bracket. They would go on to defeat Minnesota for the Big Ten Tournament championship, thanks in large part to this defeat of the evil maize-clad hordes.

#35--Tampa @ St. Petersburg, 6/22/2000

2008-11-11T17:45:00.002-05:00

This was a game between the Tampa Yankees and the St. Petersburg Devil Rays that I attended in St. Pete. There were no future stars playing in the game, but some names that stood out to me were Pete LaForest, Andy Phillips, Juan Rivera, and Brandon Backe (playing shortstop at this point in his career and batting eighth).

#34---COL v. SD, 4/4/1999

2008-11-04T14:43:00.002-05:00

This was an Opening Day game played in Mexico. Local hero Vinny Castilla had a good game, going 4-5 as the Rockies rolled 8-2. It is a very sloppy sheet; sloppy handwriting, listing two right fielders for Colorado, not recording the line score for the San Diego 9th...certainly not my best effort.

#33--CLE @ KC, 3/1/1998

2008-10-28T12:29:00.003-04:00

The Indians defeated the Royals 6-5 in comeback fashion in this spring training meeting, which given the March 1 date was surely on the opening weekend of play. Kansas City jumped out to a 5-0 lead through five, but Cleveland countered with one in the sixth, four in the seventh (including a three-run blast by someone named Miller...I believe it was David Miller, their first round pick from 1995 . In the ninth, Russell Branyan hit a blast off of Brian Bevil for the game-winner.

#32--CLE @ OAK, 4/3/1997

2008-10-20T17:43:00.003-04:00

This was the second game of the 1997 season for the Indians and the A's, kept on my terrible Excel scoresheet. The Indians had a 4-1 lead through four innings, but Oakland tied it with two in the fifth and one in the sixth. Geronimo Berroa's eighth inning homer off Eric Plunk provided the A's with the winning run.

Notable is Mark McGwire's fifth inning homer, the first of 58 that he would hit this season.

#31--CAL @ CLE, 6/7/1996

2008-10-13T12:22:00.002-04:00

I kept this game on a photocopy of a Louisville Slugger-branded scoresheet. It was actually my friend's scorebook, and I was trying to teach him how to score, which is why there are two people's handwriting on the sheet. It is a scary thought that I was attempting to teach scorekeeping, as this sheet is horrible, with the runs impossible to pick out as the most basic flaw. Anyway, I can't find the flip side, but the Indians beat the Angels 4-3.

#30---NYA @ BOS, 7/26/2008 & 7/27/2008

2008-10-06T11:03:00.001-04:00

These late July Yankees/Red Sox games were the national games of the week on Fox and ESPN, but for some reason I didn’t want to sit down and score every pitch of each game (there must have been something else on TV that I wanted to channel flip to; I might decide not to watch baseball on a particular day, but I almost never decide to devote time to watching an entire game but not score it). So these are bare-bones scoring efforts.

Since I didn’t need a lot of space, I used my “mini” scoresheet, which allows me to score two games on one side of a piece of paper (four games if double-sided).

As a concession to not having each pitch recorded, I use a notation like “WP2” to indicate that there was a wild pitch that occurred during the second batter’s PA--usually I would also note the exact pitch on which this occurred.

This is by no means my favorite way to score a game, but it is easy and it saves a tree every four games (yes, yes, I realize that you can get much more than one sheet of paper from a single tree).

#29---All-Star Game, 7/15/2008

2008-09-29T15:38:00.001-04:00

Not only do I score spring training games, I also score the All-Star Game. It’s actually not as bad as you might think. What I do is keep another piece of paper handy so that I can write down all the substitutions there before putting them on the scoresheet itself. If you have a question about which batting order position a substitute is playing, you can just hold off putting him on the sheet until you figure it out.

Anyway, this game was recent enough that most of you will remember it and I won’t need to make any explanatory comments about the game itself. It was a classic, if any meaningless game can be considered such.

#28---CIN @ MIL, 4/10/2008

2008-09-22T22:33:00.001-04:00

Here is a fairly mundane, early season 4-1 Reds victory that I scored off a radio broadcast (Jeff Brantley is no better than he was in 2007, I’m sorry to report) using a sheet with dots representing the four corners of the diamond. This is a way to use the diamond style of scoring without having to write over the diamonds. The dots are small and fairly light and serve as a guide for tracing the diamond out as necessary. Of course, you could always just draw the sides of the diamond yourself as the situation requires, but for some of us, this would result in the ugliest looking scoresheet in history (I have zero artistic ability, even to draw equal-sided diamonds).

Personally, I prefer just using a box and using the four corners of the box to represent the bases. The only time I use diamonds is when I attend an OSU game live (only because I wanted to use a scorebook for that rather than just loose sheets, and it’s darn hard to find a cheap scorebook that does not have diamonds), or when I have the occasion to score for a slow-pitch softball team (since no one cares about keeping the stats, the action moves fast, and there are dozens of baserunners per game, it is a lot easier to just follow runners’ progress by tracing the diamond). Some people swear by them, though, and that’s just as well.

Bonus--Scott Lewis' MLB Debut, CLE @ BAL 9/10/2008

2008-09-10T22:08:00.002-04:00

Tonight, Scott Lewis became (at least) the 48th Buckeye to pitch in the majors. This was exciting enough for me--but then he went out and tossed eight shutout innings, scattering three hits, walking none, and fanning three while making 97 pitches in the Indians' 7-1 win.

#27---CLE @ LAA, 4/8/2008

2008-09-08T12:52:00.004-04:00

For this game, I used a Project Scoresheet scoresheet. I did not adhere to Project Scoresheet methodology; I used my own codes for hits, baserunner advancement, and the like. Of course, there are similarities between what I did and the official Project Scoresheet system. If you’d like to know more about their system, go to the sites of David Cortesi or Alex Reisner.

One need not use the exact syntax of Project Scoresheet to get an idea of whether their system suits you or not. I suppose I should point out for those who may not know that PS was an organization started by Bill James in 1984 to collect play-by-play data for all major league games. Initially, they accepted scoresheets of all kinds from fans, but eventually the organization adopted Craig Wright’s scoring system as its standard. The organization collapsed some time in the late 80s or early 90s, but its influence can still be seen in organizations like STATS, Baseball Info Solutions, and Retrosheet.

The system was certainly innovative, and its influence can be seen today beyond the people who still score using the method. MLB gametracker inputters use Project Scoresheet notation, or at least a derivative thereof, and Alex Reisner’s situational system was based on combining Project Scoresheet and traditional scoring methods.

Cosmetically, the scoresheet does not provide space for each batter to bat in each inning. Since most boxes in a 9x9 grid go unused, this allows for a more efficient use of space, and people have applied this concept to traditional scorekeeping. The scorebox itself is divided by three horizontal lines. The top line is used to record things that happen before the conclusion of the at bat, such as a runner advancing on a wild pitch or being caught stealing. The middle line is used to record the outcome of the at bat, and the bottom line is used to record things that happen after the at bat ends or the ball is put in play (baserunner advancement, stolen base on strike three, and the like).

The sheet I used here is a copy of one from one included in the 1987 Great American Baseball Stat Book, a short-lived annual that included data culled from the efforts of Project Scoresheet. It includes boxes to record each pitch, which I did, and so let’s start there. I used dots, dashes, and other symbols to record each pitch, whereas the official PS system uses descriptive letters (B for ball, S for swinging strike, etc.). I prefer symbols since I think the use of letters clutters the sheet and draws your focus to reading them. The symbols I used are somewhat similar to those that Alex Reisner uses, but his were designed for separate ball/strike columns and thus double up usage.

I used an open circle for a ball, a square for a pitchout/intentional ball (which was not used in this game), a triangle for a hit batter, a dot for a called strike, a dash for a foul, a plus for a swinging strike, and a x for a ball hit in play. I also put “b” to indicate a bunt attempt or show of a bunt coupled with a strike. Additionally, “N” stands for no pitch, and is used as a timing device. For example, the N in Gary Matthews’ first inning at bat tells us that the throwing error occurred between the third and fourth pitches. If an event occurs on a particular pitch, then the symbol for that pitch is circled (see Sizemore’s third inning at bat--the third ball is circled indicating that it was the wild pitch).

Let me just go through the sheet and point out some events and how the PS system (or at least my variation of it) records them. I will refer to the location on the scoresheet by the box number.

* Cleveland #4--Martinez singled, but the bottom line tells us that the runner was thrown out at home (1 indicates the runner was from first, X indicates an out, H indicates that it was at home), right to first to catcher [1xH(932)].

* Cleveland #9--[SB2] indicates that second base was stolen (one could write [1-2(SB)], but it should be obvious that it was the runner from first who stole second. This is written on the bottom line of the box since it occurred on the last pitch of the at bat, and thus there is no need to circle that pitch.

* Cleveland #10--The runner moved from second to third on a wild pitch [2-3(WP)].

* Cleveland #17--Blake's single advanced the runner at first to second [1-2].

* Cleveland #20--Cabrera's single scored runners from second and third [2-H, 3-H and I box the Hs to make runs easy to spot], and the batter (Cabrera) advanced to second on the throw [B-2(T)].

* Cleveland #30--Hafner hit into a double play, 361. This is marked as 36(1)1--the (1) indicates that the runner at first was retired 36.

* Cleveland #39--Hafner's home run not only scored the runner from first [1-H], but it scored the batter as well [B-H]. The principle is that the batter’s advancement is not marked unless it is beyond what is indicated by their event outcome (as in Cabrera hitting a single but advancing to second on the throw) or the batter scores (so that runs are easy to spot).

As I see it, there are two main strengths of the PS method. The first is that it is very easy to note substitutions, since each box has its own number. There’s no need to worry about what inning it is or which lineup slot is at the plate; instead, you just jot down the appropriate box number and you’re on your way.

The other main strength is that it is that there is no recording backtracking whatsoever. However, this is also the main weakness of the system in my eyes, because it makes reading the account of the game back a real chore. Baserunners are identified by the base on which they started the PA, so if you want to know who actually scored a run, or got caught stealing, you have to work backwards through the sheet to trace that runner’s progress to his PA-initial base.

On the game, note that Francisco Rodriguez was not pitching in the ninth; he had some minor injury and missed this game at the beginning of a season in which he would make a play for Bobby Thigpen's save record.

#26---CLE @ OAK, 4/6/2008

2008-09-01T23:44:00.001-04:00

Just for fun, I tried using a variation of L.L. Bean’s scoring system for this game. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of information on Bean’s system, only what was described by Paul Dickson in The Joy of Keeping Score, which does very helpfully reproduce a sample game scored by Bean.

Bean stated that his system was designed for night-scoring; I guess maybe fans in the 1950s felt that the lighting was sub-standard and their scorebooks were harder to read for the new-fangled night games. It seems like an anachronism now to need or even entertain thoughts of having a special “night scoring” system.

Bean’s system did not note individual fielders at all; that was unacceptable for me, even for one game, so I included position numbers when they were necessary. Often, they are not; the vast majority of groundouts to second go 43, so I only wrote the numbers down when it was something more unusual, like 41. I also added symbols to indicate line drives or fouls instead of just flyouts, and of course I tracked baserunner advancement and pitch sequence, neither of which were in Bean’s system.

The basic symbol for an out in the system is an “O” or a circle. The location of dots or lines around the circle indicate which fielder made the play and whether the ball was hit in the air or on the ground. Rather than spelling out all of the details, I will go through the play-by-play for this game, and you should be able to figure out the basics yourself.

TOP 1

Sizemore singled to center.

Cabrera flied to right.

Hafner grounded to second; Sizemore to second.

Garko walked.

Peralta hit into fielder’s choice at third; Garko out 54 at second.

BOT 1

Buck flied to left.

Ellis flied to left.

Barton grounded to first.

TOP 2

Dellucci grounded to first.

Michaels doubled to left, line drive.

Marte flied to center.

Shoppach grounded to second.

BOT 2

MSweeney grounded to second, deflected by pitcher.

Brown lined to right.

Crosby grounded to short.

TOP 3

Sizemore grounded to first, pitcher covering.

Cabrera flied to left.

Hafner singled to third.

Garko popped to second in the outfield.

BOT 3

Hannahan grounded to first, pitcher covering.

Suzuki singled to center, line drive.

Suzuki advanced to second on passed ball; RSweeney singled to second, Suzuki to third.

Buck flied to left, sacrifice; Suzuki scored.

Ellis flied to right.

TOP 4

Peralta singled to left, line drive.

Dellucci struck out.

Michaels flied to center.

Marte hit into fielder’s choice at third; Peralta out 54 at second.

BOT 4

Barton flied to right.

MSweeney singled off third, groundball.

Brown popped to third.

Crosby hit into a fielder’s choice at short; MSweeney out 64 at second.

TOP 5

Shoppach struck out looking.

Sizemore lined to left.

Cabrera popped to short.

BOT 5

Hannahan struck out.

Suzuki singled to second.

RSweeney struck out looking.

Buck hit into fielder’s choice at short; Suzuki out 64 at second.

TOP 6

Hafner grounded to second.

Garko flied to center.

Peralta singled to center, groundball.

Dellucci flied to left.

BOT 6

Ellis struck out looking.

Barton struck out.

MSweeney fouled to first.

TOP 7

Michaels grounded to third.

Marte singled to right.

Shoppach singled to left; Carroll to second.

Sizemore walked; Shoppach to second, Carroll to third.

Cabrera grounded to first, pitcher covering; Sizemore to second, Shoppach to third, Carroll scored.

Hafner intentionally walked.

Garko walked; Hafner to second, Sizemore to third, Shoppach scored.

Peralta struck out.

BOT 7

Brown flied to warning track in left.

Crosby walked.

Hannahan lined to second.

Suzuki flied to right.

TOP 8

Gutierrez flied to left.

Michaels struck out.

Carroll popped to second in the outfield.

BOT 8

Cust struck out looking.

Buck grounded to first, pitcher covering.

Ellis flied to center.

TOP 9

Shoppach lined to right.

Sizemore walked.

Cabrera flied to left.

Hafner grounded to short, deflected by pitcher.

BOT 9

Barton struck out.

MSweeney walked.

Brown flied to center.

Crosby hit into fielder’s choice at third, Murphy out 54 at second.

If you are more of a visual person, I suppose you might enjoy this system. I am not, and I vastly prefer traditional numbers rather than drawing 54 circles every game. I tried it because I like to at least try scoring a game by most of the systems that I come across, just to say I did and to be able to offer semi-informed opinions on the merits of each system.

This is an excellent opportunity, then, to re-emphasize that scorekeeping is all about your own personal preferences. When I critique various scoring methods or scoresheet designs here, it is always from my own perspective. I do not in any way hold it up as “right” or the one true way or the “best” or anything of the such.

This will be important to keep in mind as the next few sheets I post will be from different scoring systems than what I generally use. I will be commenting on them in the spirit of the above paragraph, and if you disagree, I celebrate that. Scorekeeping is a pursuit where individuality should be flaunted.

For a brief word on the game, the Indians were able to scrap out a couple of runs in the seventh inning to win it 2-1. With the bases loaded and one out, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a grounder to first. While the sheet does not necessarily reflect it, Daric Barton rushed in his attempt to turn an inning-ending DP, and bobbled the ball. He was left with only a flip to first to get the out there, and the game was tied. The A’s intentionally walked Travis Hafner to load the bases, and Ryan Garko worked out of a 1-2 hole to draw a walk that would account for the game-winning run.

#25---CHA @ CLE, 3/31/2008

2008-08-24T01:45:00.002-04:00

The opening day game between the White Sox and Indians was a fun game to watch and an interesting game to score.

Jim Thome’s two two-run homers kept the ChiSox in the game despite Cleveland’s seven run outburst in the second. They chipped away at CC Sabathia and the bullpen until drawing even in the seventh. Meanwhile, Nick Masset was brilliant in relief of Mark Buerhle, shutting the Indians out over 4 1/3, fanning four and allowing just two hits.

In the top of the eighth, Crede and Uribe led off with doubles, yet Crede did not score and was held as third at third. After an intentional walk to Nick Swisher, Orlando Cabrera grounded to short. Peralta’s throw home was high, but Kelly Shoppach was able to tag Crede (or at least that’s how home plate umpire Gerry Davis saw it). Then Jim Thome grounded to second; Asdrubal Cabrera flipped to Peralta for the out, and Orlando Cabrera wiped Peralta out, but also grabbed him around the leg, leading to Thome being called out for interference.

In the bottom of the eighth, Casey Blake’s two-out, two-strike three-run double gave the Indians a 10-7 lead, and Joe Borowski was able to hold the White Sox to one in the top of the ninth for a 10-8 victory.

Re: the scoring, you can see that I’ve reduced the use of letters like “L” or “B” to modify other codes. The idea of using lines under the location for groundballs, above for line drives, and arcs for flyballs comes from Paul Dickson in The Joy of Keeping Score. The groundball line can be seen on Martinez’ second inning single, the line drive on Peralta’s single in the next plate appearance. The final play of the game, marked `5, is a foul out to third, which I previously would have marked as “f5”.

There were a couple interesting things to score. One was Cleveland batting around in the second. During Peralta’s second at bat, Victor Martinez was thrown out attempting to advance to second on a wild pitch (it is not in fact a wild pitch, since he didn’t make it (he would have had he not fallen and injured himself on the way), but I mark it as “CSWP” so that we know it wasn’t a straight steal). This meant that Peralta’s box would have to be used again when he took his turn in the third inning. So I drew lines under and adjacent to the balls and strikes listed for the first at bat, and wrote “I” in the ball column and “E” in the strike column for inning ended, which is how I would mark such an event in a normal situation. Usually, though, you just move on to the box in the next inning. Here, I kept going in the smaller space this created, since it was already in the box for the next inning.

The aforementioned interference double play was marked by a subscript “INT” after the part of the play that was actually completed. I’ve used parentheses or brackets in the past (i.e. 64[INT]3), and that works too.

#24---TOR @ CLE, 3/13/2008

2008-08-19T14:03:00.002-04:00

I still can’t help myself when it comes to scoring spring training games. Here is a 2008 example of this.

Since the game is a run of the mill exhibition, I’ll instead discuss the changes I made to my scoring this year. I decided that I had too many letters and numbers on the sheet, so I changed the way I score hits and modify some out codes. My old method of scoring hits was a three symbol code, something like “=8L”. The “=” indicates that it is a double, the “8” is for centerfield, and the “L” is for line drive. I decided to eliminate the letter describing the trajectory of the hit.

The decision I made was to use a small horizontal line over the location to indicate a line drive (see Zaun’s first inning single), a similar line under the location to indicate a groundball (see Barfield’s first inning single), and a curved line over the location to indicate a flyball (not seen on this scoresheet). Additionally, I decided that all outfield hits would be considered flyballs by default, and so a hit with an outfield location but no symbol is assumed to be a flyball (see Hafner’s first inning single). Any infield hit (not seen here either) is assumed to be a groundball.

I also used these to modify outs, so a 7 with a line over it is a line drive caught by the left fielder, which I used to mark as “L7” (again, there are none of these in this particular game). A squiggly line underneath the location indicates a bunt, which can be used for a hit or an out. A combination of the line drive and flyball symbols indicates a looper, which is my designation for a ball that straddles those two categories (I used to mark them “LP”). A mark like this “`” to the side of a play indicates that it was made in foul territory. “1-43”, in the case of Sandoval’s fifth inning at bat, indicates a ball that was deflected by the pitcher to the second baseman, who threw to first for the out (I used to mark this d143). I will point out some of those when they come up in later scoresheets--this game didn’t have many unusual plays to record.

I also changed, ever so slightly, my method for recording when a pitcher enters the game. I used to mark something like “Parrish 3-4”, which means that the first batter John Parrish faced was the #3 hitter in the lineup, and it happened in the fourth inning. As you can see, I still do that, sometimes. But now, if a pitcher enters at the start of an inning, I omit the lineup slot portion of the code (ex. “Laffey 5” means that Laffey took over on the mound at the start of the fifth inning). This just serves to reduce a small bit of unnecessary clutter.

#22---KC @ CLE, 5/16/2006

2008-08-10T19:11:00.002-04:00

Somehow, I managed to miss #22, so here it is, batting out of turn. I also apologize for the horrific formatting on this page, which is a product of 1) Blogger's mangling of what I copy and paste from Word and 2) my lack of motivation to go back and correct it all (and my lack of HTML skills that make it a real chore).

This game is a good opportunity to show the new pitch coding system I began using in 2006. Rather than treating all strikes the same, when I scored a game from TV or the internet, I distinguished swinging, called, and foul strikes. Called strikes received a plain letter (ex. B), while fouls got a bracket on the left (ex. [B), and swinging strikes a brace (ex. {B).

Tracking swinging strikes can be eye-opening, because you will find that major league hitters just don’t swing and miss that often. I was aware of this before, of course, but tracking it brought it more to my attention. There were 16 swinging strikes in this game on zero or one strike counts.

This game also has a “d163” notation (Sizemore’s first inning AB) for a ball deflected by the pitcher to the shortstop, who threw to first for the out. I would now mark this (1-63).

The sixth inning flyball hit by Emil Brown is marked 9 with a subscript 8. This means that the right fielder made the catch in center field. This notation is useful for shifts; for example, 5(subscript 6)3 indicates a play in which the third baseman throws out a runner at first while positioned around where the shortstop should be.

The ninth inning walk drawn by Tony Graffanino is marked “aW” for automatic; in this case, Jason Davis was called for an automatic ball for illegally going to his mouth. The ball symbols can also be marked this way, but in this case only the fourth ball was automatic.

The game pitted former Royal Paul Byrd against former (just a season ago) Indian Scott Elarton. KC touched Byrd up for three runs in the first, but the Indians matched that in the third. Matt Stairs homer to leadoff the sixth gave the Royals a 4-3 lead, and the score held as Ambiroix Burgos was summoned to close the game out. Grady Sizemore shattered that chance with a leadoff homer. After fanning Jason Michaels, Burgos lost Jhonny Peralta, and Andy Sisco was summoned to get the platoon advantage on Travis Hafner. Pronk took a ball, then slugged a homer to center to win it for the Tribe, 6-4.

#23---WAS @ ATL, 4/12/2007

2008-08-03T09:51:00.002-04:00

On April 12, the Nationals were hurting. They were off to a dreadful start, 1-8 having already lost the first two games of their series at Turner Field. Atlanta was almost a mirror image at 7-2.

A pitching matchup of Jason Bergmann against John Smoltz did not inspire a great deal of confidence. Nonetheless, Bergmann held the Braves hitless until Andruw Jones led off the fourth with a double. In the mean time, Smoltz shutout Washington through seven. In the eighth, the Nationals put two across to take the lead.

Meanwhile, Bergmann left after six. Jesus Colome and Jon Rauch were perfect in the seventh and the eighth, respectively, and the Braves still had just one hit when Chad Cordero entered in the ninth. Chipper Jones got a one out single, and Andruw worked a walk. Cordero struck out McCann looking, then managed to walk Jeff Francoeur of all people to load the bases. It was up to the haplessly performing Scott Thorman, but he struck out on eight pitches and Washington pitchers had combined to two-hit the Braves, 2-0.

#21---CLE @ MIN, 5/31/2005

2008-07-27T11:43:00.003-04:00

With apologies to any friends or family of Juan Gonzalez, I thought this was one of the funniest games I had ever seen, solely for an event in the top of the first inning. Gonzalez had signed with the Indians during the off-season, and on team-controlled outlets like the radio and TV broadcasts, his return was much-anticipated. An injury during spring training was a blessing in disguise for the Indians, as it allowed Grady Sizemore to make the trip north with the team, and he was a big reason why the team shot into contention.

Nonetheless, after missing nearly two months, Juan Gone was set to make his debut in the Metrodome. A two-out single by Travis Hafner allowed him to bat in the first. After working the count to one and one, he hit a feeble grounder to third and jogged down the line as Michael Cuddyer threw him out. Even this was too much, though, as he pulled him hamstring. He would never play for the Indians again, or anyone else for that matter.

Watching this on TV, I had an actual LOL moment. I felt bad for Gonzalez of course, but I wasn’t particularly concerned about the effect on the team, and after the silly hype, it was hilarious.

From that point, the game wasn’t bad either. CC Sabathia went eight efficient innings, allowing three runs. Ben Broussard and Victor Martinez went deep for the Tribe to provide three of their four runs. Ron Gardenhire was ejected for arguing balls and strikes after the third pitch of Jody Gerut’s sixth inning at bat; this is the first sheet I’ve posted which shows off my symbol for a managerial ejection.

#20---BOS @ BAL, 4/4/2004

2008-07-19T10:03:00.001-04:00

This was a Sunday night opener (I don’t recall if it was the opening game of the MLB schedule or not, with the recent trend of opening every other year or so with an overseas series, and am too lazy to check) in which the eventual world champion Red Sox fell to the Orioles 7-2. Pedro Martinez yielded three runs in the third, but was otherwise fine, working six and fanning five. Sidney Ponson made a lot of pitches (112) for allowing one run in 5 2/3. Mike Timlin was rocked in the seventh to put the outcome of this mundane opener out of doubt.

#19---PHI @ FLA, 9/24/2003

2008-07-12T11:21:00.001-04:00

For much of 2003 and 2004 (and for 2008-) I used an Excel version of my usual scoresheet, which is on display here. Otherwise, the scoring remains very much the same, as it will through 2005.

Much more fun is examining the game through the scoresheet. This late-season game between the Phillies and the eventual world champion Marlins had serious playoff implications (Florida held a one game lead over Philly for the wildcard), and matched two young righties: Brett Myers and Josh Beckett. Florida got the better of it, touching up Myers for five runs and leading 6-0 entering the eighth inning. Through the first seven, Beckett had a two-hitter, with two walks and seven Ks. But Philadelphia was not conceding, as the first four batters in the inning knocked out hits and knocked Beckett from the box. Michael Tejera could not stop the bleeding, and Chad Fox was summoned with runners at first and second and still nobody out. A wild pitch put the tying run in scoring position, but Fox coaxed a sac fly and got another fly before walking Jimmy Rollins. He managed to strike Chase Utley out to wriggle out of the jam with the lead intact 6-5. Ugueth Urbina had a 1-2-3 ninth and Florida moved closer to the playoff berth.

#18---South Carolina v. Texas, 6/22/2002 (College World Series championship game)

2008-07-05T10:29:00.000-04:00

I kept a scoresheet as I watched the national title game between the Gamecocks and the Longhorns. Texas jumped out with three tallies in the first inning and went on to win 12-6. Notable names later in the professional ranks (or for being as of yet unsuccessful first round picks in three cases) include Brian Buscher, Drew Meyer, and Landon Powell for South Carolina and Omar Quintanilla and Huston Street for Texas.

#17---NYA @ BOS, 9/1/2001

2008-06-28T12:33:00.001-04:00

New York held a seven game lead on Boston as play opened on September 1, but the Red Sox hoped that Pedro Martinez could pitch them to a much-needed win. Pedro was excellent, going six shutout innings while scattering two hits and fanning six. Orlando Hernandez yielded a leadoff homer to Trot Nixon, but pitched through the next eight innings without further damage. Meanwhile, Chuck Knoblauch’s single off the green monster tied the game off Ugueth Urbina in the eighth, and Bernie Wiliams’ leadoff homer in the ninth increased the New York edge to eight in the standings.

Scoring wise, not much had changed, but the sheet did get a minor cosmetic upgrade with the lineup section being boxed in.

#16---TEX @ CLE, 4/16/2000

2008-06-21T12:50:00.002-04:00

My scoresheet got some much-needed cosmetic work for 2000, with solid lines to separate the scoreboxes. This early season game between two defending division champions matched up Chuck Finley and Esteban Loaiza.

Finley went the distance on the hill for Cleveland, making 125 pitches and allowing a single run in the third inning. Loaiza looked to be even better though, holding the Indians to just one hit through the first seven innings, while striking out ten, including five in succession heading into the eighth. After getting David Justice to ground out, he allowed a hit to Travis Fryman and was pulled after 110 pitches for 1999 relief sensation Jeff Zimmerman. He worked out of the inning, leaving John Wetteland a save opportunity in the ninth.

Wetteland was in his final major league season, and it was one of his worst with a 120 ERA+. After retiring Roberto Alomar, Manny Ramirez hit his payoff pitch out of the park in center field to tie the game. Jim Thome did likewise on a 2-2 pitch, and the Indians had a dramatic 2-1 victory.

#15---NYA @ ATL, 10/23/1999 (World Series Game 1)

2008-06-14T10:10:00.002-04:00

I intend to go through at least one scoresheet from each year until I get to the present day. Then I will just start picking out sheets from my collection. So, here is the example sheet for 1999.

Any World Series game is historically relevant, but as far as they go, this was not special. The first game of the Yankees second consecutive sweep, it matched Orlando Hernandez against Greg Maddux. Chipper Jones went deep for the Braves in the fourth to give them the lead, and through seven Maddux made that one run hold up, allowing just three hits and two walks while fanning five on just 85 pitches. It all fell apart in the eighth with a single, walk, error, and single plating a run. Paul O’Neill greeted John Rocker with a single, and the Yankees would add another run. Atlanta brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth, but Rivera struck out Brian Jordan and got Brian Hunter to foul out for the save.

You can see that I had now started recording the final score of the game--a long overdue piece of information. I also kept inning-by-inning pitch counts for the starters, with their total pitches recorded when pulled (for example, Maddux made 11 pitches in the eighth for a total of 96).

I have no clue why was I compelled to write down who sung the national anthem, but it was some woman named Monica, apparently.

#14---CHN @ STL, 9/8/1998

2008-06-08T22:46:00.001-04:00

This game is included here for both its historical significance and the fact that it illustrates how my scoring system had progressed by the end of the 1998 season.

Base hits now have both a location code (done by field position numbers, 7 for left, 8 for center, and 9 for right) and a trajectory code (F for flyball, L for line drive, G for groundball, B for bunt, W for a ball off the wall). So “-7G” is a groundball single to left field. Additionally, events that occur during at bats are now much more clearly timed. For example, in the top of the fourth inning, Gary Gaetti advanced to second on a balk. The balk is marked with “7aa”, meaning that it occurred during the at bat of the #7 hitter. The first a is for after, and the second a indicates that it was the first pitch. “2e” would indicate something that occurred on the fifth pitch to the #2 hitter. “4bfp” would be before the first pitch to the #4 hitter. “6lp” would be on the last pitch to the #6 hitter (since the pitch that concludes the at bat does not get a letter).

While the final score of the game is still not recorded, each inning has a line summary. For example, the St. Louis sixth is marked “5-3-1-0”, meaning 5 runs on 3 hits, 1 walk, no one left. You can see that I had a blind spot in my definition of left on base, as seen in the line score for the Chicago third, which shows a runner left despite the fact that the only baserunner, Mark Grace, was retired on Sammy Sosa’s double play ball. For some reason, I considered DPs to be a runner left on. One of course could define a category like “baserunners who reached but did not score” and that would be appropriate, but that is not what I was going for--I wanted LOB in the traditional definition.

The Cubs lost the game 6-3, and while they were in the hunt for a playoff spot (and would eventually beat San Francisco in a one-game wildcard playoff), the historical significance was Mark McGwire’s 62nd home run, hit to left in the 4th inning, and leading to a bunch of excessive notes jotted down by me on the top of the page. Tony LaRussa was batting his pitcher eighth, as he had for a decent part of the season, so that is a curiosity. Also of interest is the major league debut of JD Drew, who pinch hit for Kent Mercker in the sixth, striking out looking. He stayed in the game to play left, then flew to center in the seventh.

#13---Home Run Derby, 7/6/1998

2008-05-31T00:22:00.003-04:00

This is a “scoresheet” of the 1998 Home Run Derby, kept on a piece of loose-leaf notebook paper. The system is simple enough--"O” for out and “H” for home run.

I kept a Home Run Derby scoresheet in 1999 as well; I don’t believe that I have even watched it since then. It’s actually sort of embarrassing, but it does illustrate the depths of my compulsion to write things down while watching baseball competitions.

And how in the heck did Damion Easley get himself in the Home Run Derby?

#12---CLE @ TOR, 5/30/1998

2008-05-24T09:57:00.002-04:00

Another unremarkable game (a 4-2 Blue Jay win) here because of some evolution in my system. You can see that there are now location codes for hits, “L”, “C”, or “R” for the field they were hit to. Not seen in this game was “+” as a symbol for an infield single, the regular horizontal dash for a single with a vertical dash through it.

I also began recording the specific pitch on which events such as stolen bases or wild pitches occurred, but the means of doing so was clumsy. A “x” in the bottom righthand corner of the box in which the pitch occurred indicated that there was a note. The notes are at the top of the scoresheet, separated by semicolons. This forces one to go through the entire sheet, finding the x’s in order, and then figuring out which pitches they are associated with. But it was a start.

For some reason I cannot recall, I was marking popups to infielders with a “F” prefix (i.e. “F4”, “F5”, etc.). My philosophy now is not to specifically mark things that are obvious. If the third baseman had fielded a groundball and recorded a putout, it would have had to be a fielder’s choice, part of a double play, or a runner out advancing--all of those would get their own mark. So given that it is an unassisted putout by the third baseman with no other scoring prefix to explain it, it had to have been a popout. So why write that out? For some reason, I was doing it at least for this game.

#11---CLE @ ANA, 4/5/1998

2008-05-17T09:50:00.001-04:00

The 6-4 Cleveland win over Anaheim, less than a week after the game in #10, was not noteworthy, but is included here because my scoring system got some minor alterations very early in the season. Namely, balls and strikes were now marked with letters, making the first pitch “A”, the second pitch “B”, etc. This greatly reduced the clutter of circled numbers all over the scoresheet, and allowed me to use circled numbers to track baserunner progress and squares to mark runs scored, rather than poorly drawn triangles.

Again, the score is nowhere to be found, and the name of the home team is “California” rather than the correct “Anaheim”. This was not an oversight--I was just bizarrely stubborn and continued to refer to the team that way. Some other early 1998 scoresheets of mine list the Devil Rays as “Tampa” rather than “Tampa Bay”. I wonder if I would have referred to the Nationals as “Montreal”.

#10---CLE @ SEA, 3/31/1998

2008-05-10T09:05:00.001-04:00

By March of the next year, I had recovered from the trauma of Game 7 and was ready for the start of another season, armed with a brand new scoresheet. The scoresheet that I began using then, and the general method used, are the same ones that I use today (of course, there have been changes along the way, but you can clearly see that they are related).

The scoresheet itself is simple: a 9x9 gird, with no columns for recording box score-like stats, and a space for recording who the pitchers were at the bottom of the page. Pitches are marked on the side of the boxes: balls on the left, strikes on the right, and two strike fouls on the top. Here, I used circled numbers, so the first pitch is (1), the second pitch is (2), etc. The lower right corner of the box represents first base, and the other bases follow in counter-clockwise order. Outs are marked with a solid dot in the box of the man put out. Runner advancement is noted by the batting order number of the responsible batter, boxed in this case. The special case is a run scored, which was enclosed in a triangle. RBI are marked with open circles.

The pitcher box lists the pitchers, with their entry in the game marked with a code like “1-5”, which means that the first batter faced was the man in the #1 position in the order in the fifth inning.

Again, the score is not recorded anywhere on the sheet, which is a serious flaw. The game was actually pretty interesting--the Indians won 10-9 with a four run eighth inning. Cleveland was so terrified of facing Randy Johnson that they held David Justice and Jim Thome out of the lineup, leaving Shawon Dunston (DHing and batting third!) and Jeff Manto in the lineup. Once Johnson was removed, Justice and Thome pinch hit. Dunston was 0-3, but Manto helped chase Johnson with a RBI single in the sixth. Jose Mesa, making his first appearance since blowing game seven, gave the Indians a perfect seventh and eighth to earn the win.

#9---CLE @ FLA, 10/26/1997 (World Series Game 7)

2008-05-03T10:34:00.002-04:00

In 1997, I also scored some games on a ridiculous scoresheet I made, inspired by Project Scoresheet’s use of numbered scoreboxes rather than a 9x9 grid. Everything else about the system was traditional.

The scoresheet itself had a silly design. I chuckle at the “SCORESHEET” label on the top; was I afraid I would forget what it was for? The boxes were ridiculously wide, and I didn’t take advantage of that in any way. While the numbered boxes are similar to PS, each batter’s at bats are not grouped together, so you have to add nine and go hunting (the #3 hitter is in box 3, 12, 21, etc.). I did not help matters by drawing dark circles over the numbers of boxes that resulted in outs. The benefit of the system (like that of PS) is that substitutions are very easy to mark. For some reason, I felt compelled to use this sheet to score all of the playoff games that I watched.

As for the game, there’s not much I can say. I was devastated at the time, and it took me a week to have the heart to mark Renteria’s single. I never got around to labeling the Florida eleventh inning.

#8---CLE @ STL, 6/14/1997

2008-04-26T09:28:00.003-04:00

During 1997, I also kept score of some games in a commercial scorebook. The one I used was made by What’s the Score, which quickly became my favorite commercial scorebook and still is. I use a WTS scorebook when I go to OSU baseball games to this day, although I never use it for major league games. The diamond is clean, with no outfield outline, no multiple choice quiz, and most importantly, no numbers printed willy-nilly all over the place. The drawback is that it is a 16 batting position book, which is utterly useless for baseball (they also have a model with 11, but it is not sold at my local retailer). The system I was using here was the one closest to what I use today among the scoresheets I’ve posted so far (except for the use of a diamond rather than a blank box), but I wouldn’t endorse it by any means.

The game here was more interesting than the final score of 8-3 would indicate; the Cardinals led 3-0 going into the seventh, but the Indians tied it that frame and won it with five in the eighth. It was also the first season of interleague play, and thanks to a Friday rainout, this was the first game of a doubleheader and the first ever meeting between the Tribe and Redbirds.

#7---CLE @ BAL, 5/29/1997

2008-04-19T22:47:00.002-04:00

This was another game scored on the rudimentary Excel sheet, but it is profiled here because it was almost the most noteworthy game I ever scored. If you look at the sheet you will see why, and you won’t need this spelled out for you, but this is the play-by-play for the Indians:

1ST INNING
Mike Mussina pitching.
Grissom struck out.
Franco grounded to short.
Thome struck out.
2ND INNING
Williams struck out.
Justice grounded to short.
Ramirez grounded to short.
3RD INNING
Fernandez struck out.
Alomar struck out.
Vizquel flied to left.
4TH INNING
Grissom grounded to pitcher.
Franco struck out.
Thome grounded to pitcher.
5TH INNING
Williams struck out.
Justice grounded to third.
Ramirez grounded to second.
6TH INNING
Fernandez popped to short.
Alomar struck out.
Vizquel struck out.
7TH INNING
Grissom flied to right.
Franco grounded to second.
Thome grounded to second.
8TH INNING
Williams grounded to first.
Justice flew to center.
Ramirez flew to right.
9TH INNING
Fernandez grounded to second.
Alomar singled (NOOOO!)
Giles hit for Vizquel; struck out.
Grissom struck out.

I still have not been fortunate enough to score a no-hitter, let alone a perfect game.

#6---CLE @ OAK, 4/2/1997

2008-04-12T09:40:00.002-04:00

It was Opening Day 1997 and I had a new scoresheet to try out. I made it myself in Excel. Unfortunately, I had no idea of how useful Excel could be as a scoresheet-making tool (now, I make all of my scoresheets in Excel). I did not take advantage of changing row heights or column widths or drawing borders; I didn’t even figure out how to make a row without any text below it print, leaving the ninth place hitter for the home team with half a scorebox. Writing out the lineup slots as "1st", "2nd", etc. seems to be overkill in retrospect.

So the sheet was very bare, and as I was scoring I had to mentally take note of where the borders of the scoreboxes should be. I do like some of what I was doing as far as actually scoring goes. Marking pitching changes with a symbol for the new pitcher in the box of the first batter was a lot better than writing his name at the bottom of the box. The boxes left enough room to comfortably record the basic details, and I was firmly entrenched in using the lineup position of the batter to record baserunner advancement. The 9-7 Cleveland victory scored here was marked by a fast Cleveland start (4 runs in the 1st), a 3 run Oakland fifth to tie it up, and homers by David Justice (along with Grissom making his Indian debut after being traded for Kenny Lofton and Alan Embree) and Jim Thome to put the Tribe ahead for good; it featured the major league debut of one of my favorite players, Steve Kline (I met him at a Canton-Akron Indians team banquet).

#5---KC @ CLE, 9/20/1996

2008-04-05T09:30:00.002-04:00

I attended the September 20, 1996 game at Jacobs Field, and thus I did keep score. I went back to using a Score-Right sheet. The game was unremarkable, with the Royals winning 6-4 against an Indians team that had already clinched the division title.

The scorekeeping was thoroughly unremarkable as well. It has the hallmarks of a sheet kept sloppily at a ballpark. Compared to my sheet from earlier in the season (#2), the quality of my scorekeeping had actually declined, although some of this had to be due to the ballpark setting.

The only improvement was utilizing the diamond by tracing the progress of runners. Unfortunately, this coincided with a lack of explaining how the runners progressed or even responsibility for RBI. Pitching changes were still clumsily indicated by writing the name at the bottom of the scorebox of the first batter faced, and the final score is nowhere to be found (also, in an unintentional error, the line score lists Cleveland with zero runs in the fifth when in fact they scored three. Jeff Kent’s means of reaching base in that inning is not recorded--it was a three-run longball).

One thing that made no sense to me when looking at this sheet was the scoring in the KC second. Randa singled, then has an “F” mark at second indicating he was retired on a fielder’s choice (16, hit into by Offerman). Offerman in turn was retired on Myers’ fielder’s choice. But what does “F6F” mean?

Looking at the Retrosheet scoring for the game, I have no idea what I was thinking at the time. First of all, Offerman’s FC was hit to first and was 36, not 16. The Myers play was a 46 FC--why that was “F6F” is a mystery to me. I hope it was just a mistake, intended to be “F46”, but who knows?

As has been the case with all of my sheets so far, I also made no mark to easily distinguish the end of the inning. I currently use a slash, but any of the techniques in use (some people draw two little hash marks at the bottom of the box, some people x out the first unused box, etc.) would make the sheet a lot easier to read.

#4---CLE @ DET, 5/26/1996

2008-03-29T09:36:00.002-04:00

For a brief time in 1996, I scored games in a new scorebook. I was given it as a gift, and I quickly tired of the book after scoring four games in it. It was a B&B Stat-Master scorebook.

I cannot find a website for B&B scorebooks; I don’t know if they still exist or not. The scorebook does not fit my current preference for simplicity, but it was pretty good for the busy commercial scorebooks, with one glaring problem. One thing that I hate is what Bill James called the “multiple choice quiz”, where the various means of reaching base are listed and you are supposed to circle or mark the applicable one. The B&B scorebook avoided this problem; it also had boxes for balls and strikes, a circle in which to record the out number, a blank space to record the outcome of the at bat, and a box in which to record RBI. While I think all that is overkill, I’d rather have all of that than an otherwise plain box with the multiple choice quiz.

Unfortunately, this scorebook prints the position numbers on the diamond in each and every scorebox. I have always been perplexed by scoresheets that do this. Do they think that the scorer is incapable of remembering the numbers? It might be okay if the boxes were big enough to cleanly circle or mark the numbers to denote fielding plays (for example, on a groundout to short you could just circle the 6), but they’re not. So the result is a bunch of unnecessary clutter.

The scoring system I was using at the time did not help with the issue of clutter. I wrote out “FLY”, “POP”, and “LINE” for outs hit in the air. Why not just “F”, “P”, or “L”? Now, I prefer to use modifiers only when the event is unusual. For example, if the left fielder catches a ball, I assume it is a fly. If it wasn’t, and it was a line drive or something else, than I designate that.

I also insisted on drawing an arrow to where the ball was hit, which adds information for hits, but is repetitive when it comes to outs. I still was not tracking runners’ progress by tracing the diamond, and it is still darn hard to find the score on the sheet. I looked up the score on Baseball-Reference instead of trying to count the runs on the sheet. It was 5-0, Cleveland.

#3---BOS @ CLE, 4/19/1996

2008-03-22T10:33:00.002-04:00

As mentioned last week, during the early days of the 1996 season, I alternated between using leftover softball scoresheets and loose-leaf, cross-style scoring. Apparently, as the season went on I stopped keeping score, because I don’t have many surviving scoresheets past May, and it’s doubtful I threw them out at any point.

For these games, I used a lineup page with line score similar to the one shown in post #1, so I will not reproduce one of those here. I have only posted the six full innings here, as the end of the game was unremarkable and the scoring system the same in this 9-4 Cleveland win.

Again, the need to write out the name of the batter and pitcher for each confrontation makes this method of scoring tedious. I also have no idea why I drew a cross for each batter instead of only doing that once a runner reached base--it would have reduced clutter and made outs easier to pick out.

The evolution on display here though from my earlier sheets is that runner advancement is marked by using the lineup position of the batter who caused it. For instance, looking at the top of the first, Dwayne Hosey drew a walk and stole second. He was then advanced to third by the actions of the #2 hitter (John Valentin grounded to short), and scored on the actions of the #3 hitter (Mo Vaughn hit a sac fly to left, with the “X” again serving as the RBI marker).

#2---NYA @ CLE, 4/2/1996

2008-03-15T09:47:00.003-04:00

Last week, we looked at my nascent scoring efforts circa spring training 1996. Once the regular season rolled around, I scrapped the labor-intensive scoring. For some games, I used plain notebook paper, but did not record pitches, using crosses instead of diamonds. For others, I used some old pages from a softball scorebook. I’ll deal with the crosses next time, but since on Opening Day I used the scorebook pages, that will come first.

The sheet used was from a Score-Right scorebook; I can't find a link for them, but they are still available, although I'm not sure this 18-batter one is still published. If you happen to stumble across a picture of one of their new scorebooks on the net, you'll see that the diamond drawing remains the same.

The April 2 opener between the Yankees and the Indians at Jacobs Field proved to be a matchup between the defending AL champs (Cleveland) and the to-be world champs (New York). The game should have been played a day earlier, but a heavy April snowfall on the shores of Lake Erie prevented that from happening.

This was the first game that I scored on a sheet of this type, so apparently I felt it was necessary to make notes to myself about how to use it (note the instructions for what to do should the game go to extra innings). Even with the predrawn diamonds, I did not do the usual thing and trace the runner’s progress around the bases. Instead, I wrote the event that advanced the runner to a given base near the base, which makes it very hard to read, and worse yet, makes the number of runs scored very hard to ascertain. Also, nowhere on the sheet did I record the final score. While scoresheets should convey a great deal of information about a ballgame, one should never forget that “score” is the root word.

The means of recording pitching changes is also rather clumsy--writing his name in the bottom of the box of the first batter faced. Writing out “1 RBI” and the like at the top of the box shows a startling lack of creativity. The most bizarre decision of all is to record the Indians’ at-bats at the top of the page, despite the fact they are the home team.

Notice the #9 hitter for the Yankees--one Derek Jeter, who hit his first major league home run leading off the top of the fifth against Dennis Martinez. I should also point out that this was Joe Torre's first game as manager of the Yankees--maybe the odd practice of writing the managers' names on the scoresheets has some previously unseen benefit.

#1---PIT @ CLE, 3/30/1996

2008-03-08T18:00:00.007-05:00

This blog is going to be about baseball scorekeeping, and about nothing else. Each week, I plan to post a picture of a game that I have scored. Eventually, if readers would like to submit their scoresheets, than I will include some of those as well. Also, I apologize for the black background--I'm not a big fan of it, but I thought the scoresheets would look better contrasted against it (although you will probably have to click on the pictures to view them in a larger size anyway).

As a word of introduction, I am a huge baseball fan who considers himself a sabermetrician. I have published some of my work online as “Patriot”, and I blog on baseball in general as well as sabermetrics at Walk Like a Sabermetrician. I also maintain a very rudimentary scorekeeping site, Baseball Scoresheets. Sometime, I will discuss my philosophy of scoring and that sort of thing here, but I have already done a little of that over there, so check it out if you are interested in that sort of thing.

I am a hopeless scorekeeping nut. I cannot watch or listen to a baseball game without keeping score. Even if I am doing something else and am unable to begin following the game, as long as I am able to do so during the early or middle innings, I go on MLB.com or some other gametracker site and catch up on what I missed. I suppose in some respects it has become a crutch, and has in my case actually reduced my ability to follow a game because I feel lost without a scoresheet.

Anyway, this has been the case since around 1998 or so, but my earliest major league scorekeeping venture that I can recall was Game 6 of the 1995 World Series. I scored it on a sheet torn out of a baseball/softball scorebook, something I did a fair amount of in my beginning days (before I recognized how inadequate most of them were for scoring baseball). I would be very interested to go back and look at what kind of notation I used, but unfortunately, I took an eraser to the entire sheet after the outcome of the game broke my heart.

With that effort lost to history, the earliest intact sheets I have are from spring training, 1996. Yes, I am one of those freaks who scores spring training games, and still do. It’s so exciting to have baseball back after a long, cold winter that one can gloss over the fact that the games are meaningless. Plus, if scoring is not yet second nature to you (I have scored enough games that it is), it’s great practice after a winter off--99% of regular season games are much easier to keep track of, particularly when it comes to substitutions.

My spring training sheets from 1996 were certainly a labor of love. I scored the games on loose leaf notebook paper which I compiled in a binder. On the first page, I wrote the lineups and any substitutions. On the subsequent pages, I tracked the action by drawing a diamond and ball/strike boxes for each hitter. Also, since the lineups and the rudimentary scoreboxes were removed from each other, I wrote the name of the batter and the pitcher for each at bat. The closest thing that I have ever seen anyone else do is Alex Reisner’s system, but while it does have some redundancy, it involves much less writing, much easier tracking, and no redundant drawing exercises.

Other aspects of the system were just as dumb. Many scorers do not mark how runners were advanced on the bases, unless it occurs through statistically-tracked events like wild pitches, stolen bases, and balks. That has never been comprehensive enough for me, and that includes spring training games in 1996. Unfortunately, rather than doing something sensible like marking advances by using the batting order position of the responsible batter (as I do now), the uniform number of the responsible batter, etc., I drew the symbol for the event that advanced him.

The outcome of each batter was recorded in the diamond, with standard-type symbols. Suppose a batter doubled; he would get an “ = “ mark inside his diamond. Suppose he was then advanced to third on a single by the subsequent batter; at third base, I would mark “ – “, to show that he advanced on a single. If he later scored due to a walk, there would be a “ W “ by the home plate corner of the diamond. Later, it appears that I added the fielding position of the man responsible in a circle, so “R - (6)“ indicated a run scored on a single by the shortstop.

Looking back at one of these sheets a dozen years later, it is hard for me to remember what all of the scribblings were supposed to mean, but I believe that I marked runs scored with a “ R “ next to home plate (in addition to the notation of how the advancement to the plate occurred as described above), and RBIs with a “X”. So a solo home run would get both a R and a X by home plate, although to make it even more confusing, it appears that I did not have a set order, and so sometimes this was noted as “RX” and sometimes as “XR”.

Anyway, below are scans of the lineup page and the first scoring page from the March 30, 1996 exhibition game at Jacobs Field between the Pirates and Indians. The quality is not good, and the handwriting is terrible (it still is). As always with the pictures on this blog, click on it to see a larger version.

Looking at these pages, other than the issues already mentioned, I couldn’t spell “Miceli”, as in Dan. But everyone has to start somewhere, I guess. Also, it appears that I gave credit to Vizquel for a RBI on a 643 double play, which is obviously wrong.