Low-Tech Baseball Score Keeping

Hi all, Tech Guru here with a post about something very low tech.

For as long as I can remember, my best friend and I have enjoyed watching baseball together. There are memories of afternoons on a phone with her while we both watch a Yankees game, summers on hard plastic seats watching Trenton Thunder games, a road trip to Fenway in a torrential downpour, subway rides to and from Yankee Stadium, and taking our Cubs-loving-parents to a Phillies-Cubs game at Citizens Bank Park.

No matter where I watch a baseball game, I’m reminded about why I love the game so much. It makes you slow down and really be in the moment. Part of that is the low tech use of a pencil to keep score while watching the game. Over the years, I have tried my hand at keeping score, never getting past a K means a batter struck out swinging and a reverse K means the batter struck out while looking.

You may be asking yourself why would someone need to keep score? There are digital screens everywhere telling you the score. While that is true, scoring a game means keeping a record of everything that happens on the field - not just the basics like how many runs have been scored and how many strikes the batter has against him. It’s a method of recording what each batter does - like a line drive short stop, or hitting a double - to the plays on the field like the classic Tinker to Evers to Chance (double play).

There are official scorers, the people who’s job it is to track it all. Their scoring then translates into stats. And those stats… well, as any baseball fan will tell you, those stats pop up all the time. A fan’s score is just for them and can take on many different looks. As MLB’s website says, “different fans have different methods of keeping a scorecard, and many use their own notations.” This is also a great place to start off learning the different symbols for plays and the different number of the positions.

That’s right, there is a numbering system you use to keep track of plays. I mentioned earlier Tinker to Evers to Chance. That double play would be scored 6-4-3. One of those amazing catches made by an outfielder could be scored F9, flied out to right fielder. You can find out all the position numbers and some simple symbols for play on MLB's website.

So far, I’ve only been able to pay attention for about three and a half innings, as my most recent score card for a Trenton Thunder game shows. I tend to mark DS for Didn’t See when I miss a play. I’m thinking for the next game, I’ll just keep track of what the batter does instead of all the other movements around the field.

Books:

Tinker to Evers to Chance: The Chicago Cubs and the Dawn of Modern America by David Rapp

Scouting and Scoring: How We Know What We Know about Baseball by Christopher J. Phillips

Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park

Articles:

“Scorecards’ Fate Up to Baseball Gods” from The Times (Sep 29, 2020)

“Why Keepings Score is the Best Way to Watch Baseball” from The Philadelphia Inquirer (Oct 8, 2024)

“They’re Out! Baseball Scorekeeping Is a Lost Craft but for the Few” from the Roanoke Times (July 25, 2010)

“R.I.P. 6-4-3” from Sports Illustrated (May 3, 2005)

-Amelia, Information Technology