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Thread: Keeping score a dying art.

  1. #1
    breath westofyou's Avatar
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    Keeping score a dying art.

    http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/96...imate-art-form

    In fact, Henry Chadwick started out covering cricket before switching to baseball and becoming the father of scorekeeping in the 1860s. As Alan Schwarz writes in his wonderful history of baseball statistics, "The Numbers Game," Chadwick "invented his own personal scoring form in the hope it would become standard." Similar to the ones we use today, Chadwick's scoring grid was nine batters deep and nine innings wide and was coded with letters for what the batter did and numbers for which fielders handled the ball.

    That system evolved over time, but at least one notation remains the same as it did more than a century ago: a "K" in the scorebook means the batter struck out. Chadwick originated the "K" because he used the last letter of an out -- in this case, "struck'' -- as his way of identifying it in the book.

    Scorekeeping, thus, has been around for about 150 years; and like Mark Twain, Paul McCartney or the Dodgers' pennant hopes on June 1, rumors of its demise are greatly exaggerated. Are we really seeing any fewer people keeping score now than we would have noticed a couple decades ago? After all, I was the only player on my team who raised a hand when our coach asked if anyone knew how to do it. Maybe we just don't notice scorekeepers because we don't look closely enough.

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  4. #2
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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    As a kid, my dad was teaching me how to keep score at a Reds game one summer at Riverfront. We were sitting in the first row of the red seats right behind home plate. We were both looking down at the scorecard as he explained some detail when something smacked against the empty seat next to us. Confused, we looked down onto the walkway and realized it was a foul ball. I was crushed knowing I had a chance to catch a real foul ball but I was too busy with my scorecard.

    Although I haven't kept score while attending a Reds game since, I love to keep score and I'm in my mid-twenties. I used to draw up my own scorecard with a piece of notebook paper and a ruler and keep score as I listened to the Reds on the radio. I like to keep score at minor league games and during World Series games as I watch on TV. Does that make me a dork?
    "In our sundown perambulations of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing 'base', a certain game of ball. Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our close rooms, the game of ball is glorious"
    -Walt Whitman

  5. #3
    Be the ball Roy Tucker's Avatar
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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    I used to do it every game I went to. Helps me pay attention to the game instead of gazing about aimlessly.

    But now its a sporadic thing. Sometimes I don't have the energy to concentrate. I have scored every game I've been to this year though.
    She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning

  6. #4
    breath westofyou's Avatar
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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    Quote Originally Posted by Reds Freak View Post
    I like to keep score at minor league games and during World Series games as I watch on TV. Does that make me a dork?
    Nope, that makes you part of a select group being addressed when the announcer says, "For those of you keeping score at home."

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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    Quote Originally Posted by westofyou View Post
    Nope, that makes you part of a select group being addressed when the announcer says, "For those of you keeping score at home."
    It also makes him kind of a dork. And yes, I also used to keep score at home when listening to the games and at every game I went to. (Then I discovered beer)

    I probably haven't kept score at a game in 20 years. And I haven't really considered keeping score at a game for a long time either. I think the next time I go to a game I will keep score just for old time's sake. Good chance to teach my 6 year-old the dying art.

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    Member Tom Servo's Avatar
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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    I was on my high school's varsity baseball team my senior year even though I was fairly terrible, and I kept score for our team. Really the only interesting part of the task was determining hits/errors, but I loved being on the team itself.
    “I don’t care,” Votto said of passing his friend and former teammate. “He’s in the past. Bye-bye, Jay.”

  10. #7
    Danger is my business! oneupper's Avatar
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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    I used to score the games, but only at the ballpark. My scoring pad had ketchup stains.
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

    http://dalmady.blogspot.com

  11. #8
    Be the ball Roy Tucker's Avatar
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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    Quote Originally Posted by westofyou View Post
    Nope, that makes you part of a select group being addressed when the announcer says, "For those of you keeping score at home."
    I prefer the phrasing "for those of you scoring at home"

    She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning

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    RaisorZone Raisor's Avatar
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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    If there is anyone around here who knows about scoring, it's Roy.

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    Mon chou Choo vaticanplum's Avatar
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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    I keep score but I don't do it correctly. Or, more accurately, I rock my own brand of scoring.
    There is no such thing as a pitching prospect.

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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    Quote Originally Posted by Boston Red View Post
    It also makes him kind of a dork. And yes, I also used to keep score at home when listening to the games and at every game I went to. (Then I discovered beer)

    I probably haven't kept score at a game in 20 years. And I haven't really considered keeping score at a game for a long time either. I think the next time I go to a game I will keep score just for old time's sake. Good chance to teach my 6 year-old the dying art.
    You need more dork evidence? In college, on occasion, my roommate and I would drink beers, watch the Reds, score the game, and compare styles. Granted, this only happened maybe five times. But I'll admit, it happened.
    "In our sundown perambulations of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing 'base', a certain game of ball. Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our close rooms, the game of ball is glorious"
    -Walt Whitman

  16. #12
    Be the ball Roy Tucker's Avatar
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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    I'm a pretty classic-style scorer. Gets the job done and effective.
    She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning

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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    Quote Originally Posted by Reds Freak View Post
    You need more dork evidence? In college, on occasion, my roommate and I would drink beers, watch the Reds, score the game, and compare styles. Granted, this only happened maybe five times. But I'll admit, it happened.
    I could have hung out with you guys. You would have been jealous of my style.

  18. #14
    RaisorZone Raisor's Avatar
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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    Back in college my roommate and I had an argument about home runs. It ended when he busted my face with a heavy hardback book.

    Finally had my nose fixed last year after 20 years

  19. #15
    Be the ball Roy Tucker's Avatar
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    Re: Keeping score a dying art.

    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    Back in college my roommate and I had an argument about home runs. It ended when he busted my face with a heavy hardback book.

    Finally had my nose fixed last year after 20 years
    Ahh, so you like your scoring rough, eh?
    She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning

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