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

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.