Keepin’ Score

I’ve been keeping an eye on the Milwaukee Brewers this last half of the season because I used to go to school in Milwaukee when I was a MOFF. Even though I’ve only seen one game in the old County Stadium and one in the fabulous newly built Miller stadium, I do have a soft spot for the Brew Crew and it looks like they might be going to the post season, battling against Steve’s Wonder Cubs.

So there’s a controversy fermenting (sorry for the pun) over a game played on last weekend where CC Sabathia (Cy Young winner last year for the American League) was pitching a no hitter and the ball came back at him. According to the Associated Press, Sabathia picked the ball up barehanded only to drop it. The runner made it to first base. Hit, you say? That’s what the official scorer said and credited a hit to the runner. Pitcher error, you say? That what the entire Milwaukee Brewers team saw and the team thinks their pitcher was robbed of a no-hitter. Now a one hitter is nothing to sneeze at and CC seemed to take it in stride. But it bring us to the question, who decides what is written in the official records?

It is someone the fan never sees. You probably won’t recognize his or her name either. According to the MLB Office Baseball Rules, “The league president shall appoint an official scorer for each game…The scorer shall have sole authority to make all decision involving judgment such as whether a batter’s advance to first base is the result of a hit or an error.”

Remember, in baseball, a hit has to be earned. Not that you are any less real, living and breathing flesh and blood on first base ready to make your way to home plate and the run you make is any less of a number on the scoreboard, but at the end of the day, in the box score, if you didn’t earn the hit, you don’t get the hit in your column. And if the hit is not in your column, it’s not in your lifetime stats.

And that is the importance and the power of the baseball scorer. He or she does not change the outcome of the game in any way. He or she does not decide balls and strikes like the umpire. One writer said that “about 90% of all calls can be made by most people. The official scorer is hired to make the other 10% of the calls.”

But there are a lot of baseball stats that basically come down to someone deciding who gets the credit and who gets the blame. Believe it or not, most people aren’t very objective about their teams. (I’m talking about you, Softball Diva and Terminal Yankees Fan and you, Sister Turned Red Sox Fanatic.) So there needs to be someone who knows baseball like the back of his/her hand and is also totally familiar with the MLB Official Baseball Rules. These are the most common stats determined by the official scorer that you should be familiar with.

Error: Errors are fielding mistakes that benefit the offense. (Example: the shortstop goes down to pick up the ball and bobbles it. Runner from first makes it to second though if the shortstop had not bobbled the ball, he could have thrown it in time to second to get the runner out. An error is scored against the shortstop.)

Fielders Choice: Describes a situation in which a fielder decides to make play other that to put out a batter running to first base. (Example: same shortstop gets the ball and chooses to throw it to second to get the runner from first. The shortstop could throw it to first and easily get the batter out, but throws it to second instead to stop the runner on first from getting into scoring position. A hit is not scored for the batter because he could have just as easily been thrown out.)

Assist : Given to a fielder who fields the ball prior to a put out, which means another fielder does something to cause the batter or runner to be out.

Runs Batted In: the number of runs that are scored due to a batter’s performance.

Hits: This is the big one. Did the runner hit the ball in a way that got him on base safely without his achievement being credited to the opposing team making a mistake? Meaning, no errors, no fielders choice.

Passed ball: A pitch missed by the catcher that he should have caught and results in a runner advancing or even scoring

Wild pitch: A pitch thrown too high, low or side to be caught by the catcher, again allowing a runner to advance.

Just like the umpire, the scorer has to keep an eye on the ball but they have to be watching everybody else as well. In a regular MLB game there is just one scorer. Back in the old days, when reporters were really the only ones interested in scores, a member of the press was appointed to be the official scorer. But with so much riding on scores (such as league play, individual lifetime stats that determine salary and Hall of Fame consideration) the League started appointing an official scorer in 1980 for each game to promote objectivity. Usually it is someone picked by the home team but paid by the MLB. In the World Series there is a panel of three (one scorer and two writers.) And right now the Milwaukee Brewers’ manager is promoting that idea for regular games too.

So keep in mind, if you are watching a game live or watching a game on television and you hear the announcer say, “let’s see how they score that one,” the they means some person who is appointed, who know something about the game and who is willing to take some abuse but gets no public recognition except at the very bottom of the baseball box scores.