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Tip for Scorekeepers

G gamedayrocks10+ posts
I learned something new last night! (I learn something new about every 5 minutes LOL, but anyway...) I keep the books for our High School team. Last night, about halfway through the 3rd inning, Coach, in his most frustrated and loud voice, says "I want you to start keeping track of how many called strikes we have!!!" I said "yes sir!" LUCKILY, I had been doing so already.

A long time ago I realized that for me to transfer the info. from the book to our website, I needed to track every pitch. So, instead of marking through the balls and strikes boxes on the scoresheets with an "X" or "/", I put what the batter did with each pitch. In other words, if he swung at pitch 1, that would be a circled 1 in the first strike box. If he watched pitch 2 go by for a called strike, that would be a plain 2 in the second strike box. If he fouled back, down, left or right pitch 3, that would be a F3B, F3D, F3L or F3R. Balls are just the pitch number in the ball box. This helps later when I'm entering the play by play info.

However, it also helped me give Coach the information he wanted in about 2 minutes. When our coaches are in game situations and they ask for numbers, the scorekeepers need to give good info. quickly.

SO, just a tip for anyone interested. I'm sure each Coach has a few suggestions as to how he wants his books kept - and I know they keep a pitch count in the dugout. I just wanted to share how keeping track of each pitch helped in that particular situation. And some of you probably already do this!...
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RJMRJMHSBaseballWeb member since 2007
I kept the book and maintained the website for the high school team last year. Here's my tip: Don't do it. Because I didn't want to be near the dugout I was subject to approaches by parents. After telling two parents my scoring call and being yelled at I proceeded to walk away when I saw them coming the remainder of the season. I received several calls or emails per week (I returned none of them unless I made a data entry error) arguing over scoring decisions, my intelligence and my ancestory. My mother is not a female dog. I know my parents. I have teeth so I bite, not $uck. It was the same handful of parents every time.
G gamedayrocks10+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by RJM:
I kept the book and maintained the website for the high school team last year. Here's my tip: Don't do it.


LOL! I know what you mean! I'm in my 5th year and I've had a few of those experiences. One thing I've learned is, if a parent wants stats, they can go get them from the coach. On our website, I give a play by play recap of the game and list the singles, doubles, triples, HRs and our pitchers' strikeouts - but I DO NOT post stats. Too much potential parental backlash involved with that. That's what we pay the coach for... Wink
Last edited by gamedayrocks
RJMRJMHSBaseballWeb member since 2007
quote:
but I DO NOT post stats
It was part of the job along with emailing a box score to the coach along with a game summary by 9pm so it could be in the paper the next day. Afer the first game I took it upon myself to write the summary. The coach liked it. Sometimes he made slight modifications. He told me never tell the parents I was writing the summaries that went in the paper even though they were very objective.

My son went halfway through the season without an error. Charging a slow roller on a fast hitter and attempting a barehand and throw play, the ball rolled up his wrist and fell to the ground. One of the PITA parents came over and yelled, "That d@mn well better be an error!" I screwed my son and gave him an error. The coach changed the call before submitting the boxscore to the paper. The parent was all over me the next game. Guess what position the parent's son played.

There are factions among team parents where I believe some parents aren't pulling for certain players. It originates from being a two town school district with petty jealousies dating back to competing preteen youth ball organizations.
Last edited by RJM
Hawk19Hawk19100+ posts
quote:
keep my own stats for my son in a notebook on a game by game basis and he has never come within 30 points of hitting what his "official" stats read.


Not a surprise since you only need to fudge about 3 'hits' a season...(e.g. 30/100 = .300, 33/100 = .330.)

I keep a book at the game. I've never had any nasty parents but some have questioned my scoring. I learned to just turn around and ask the peanut gallery 'hit or error'. We've got enough savvy parents that I always got the right answer. It actually became a running joke that on obvious errors the parent of the batter would say 'hit' and the rest of us would laugh....
Hawk19Hawk19100+ posts
Stupid question time...

What is the value of recording the number of 'called' vs 'swinging' strikes without the context of the situation?

I would think the there would be a lot of 'called' strikes on 2-0, 3-1, etc. And fouls can be 'fouled off a pitch down the middle' vs 'fouled off a good pitch'. I record 'K' swinging, 'K' looking and pitch sequence but not 'called' vs 'swinging' vs 'fouled' which seems like overkill....
L Loveumbb10+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Hawk19:
Stupid question time...

What is the value of recording the number of 'called' vs 'swinging' strikes without the context of the situation?

I would think the there would be a lot of 'called' strikes on 2-0, 3-1, etc. And fouls can be 'fouled off a pitch down the middle' vs 'fouled off a good pitch'. I record 'K' swinging, 'K' looking and pitch sequence but not 'called' vs 'swinging' vs 'fouled' which seems like overkill....



Our school actually pays a teacher to keep score. She has been doing it for years and NO ONE thinks of questioning her scoring. She is also the one who submits the "top performers" and box score after each game to the local paper. She is paid with a free spring break trip for her and her family, although she has to keep score at our games but quite worth it when you get to go to Sarasota (on the beach) or Orlando for free for a week every April. She is actually a great scorer and is totally partial for all the kids.
G gamedayrocks10+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Hawk19:
Stupid question time...

What is the value of recording the number of 'called' vs 'swinging' strikes without the context of the situation?

I would think the there would be a lot of 'called' strikes on 2-0, 3-1, etc. And fouls can be 'fouled off a pitch down the middle' vs 'fouled off a good pitch'. I record 'K' swinging, 'K' looking and pitch sequence but not 'called' vs 'swinging' vs 'fouled' which seems like overkill....


Sometimes we have hitters who start trending towards watching strikes. During the game I mentioned above, for example, our guys were just not swinging the bat. For whatever reason. Before Coach went into his next between inning "pep talk", he wanted to know exactly how many called strikes he was about to refer to.

I've also been in a game situation where things got a little crazy with passed balls, stolen bases, overthrows etc., and being home book, I was asked to recount the current "at bat." I was able to tell the umpire "The pitcher threw his first pitch for a swinging strike, his second for a ball, his third was fouled back, and the count is now 1 and 2." and no one argued.

But you're right in that it usually isn't necessary information. But when it is, it's nice to have.
RJMRJMHSBaseballWeb member since 2007
quote:
HS teams have student managers who do the books and that should be good enough.
The coach couldn't find anyone to do the job properly. The previous year a female team manager was giving doubles on two base throwing errors. If you want to see a mess give the book to a bench player and allow a couple of players to sit on each side of him. Previous to that the parental political factions I mentioned filtered down to some of the players. Hits were scored errors for some hitters and vice versa depending on which faction had the book.

When no one stepped forward the coach said he had seen my travel team's website and asked me to take over. I'll never make that mistake again. I'll keep my son's stats and let the website and stats be a mess.
Last edited by RJM
zombywoofzombywoof1,000+ posts
There's no question that the stats by a student manager or players on the bench may be different than somebody who knows how to keep the books. There are reasons for that and not just because they don't do it right if you get what I mean. Inspite of that, it's better to let the team deal with the books and a parent stay away from it. If the HC is bent on getting the stats as close to accurate as possible, he should get an outsider or at least somebody besides a parent to do it. While I've done my share of doing the books in my day and was pretty good at it and fair, I just couldn't see myself doing for the HS team unless I was a coach. I just wouldn't want the potential headaches and preferred just watching the game.
Last edited by zombywoof
rz1rz15,000+ posts
An idea for those who keeps an accurate book for a coach.

From HS through college and into the MILB portions of his baseball career my son has always said the stat that always seem to carry a lot of weight are the % of first pitch strikes. I don't know the official term but he has always called the "black dots".

If a strike is thrown on the first pitch, a "black dot" is put in the corner of the box, this is done for every opposing AB. A very simple process, that produces a very important data in regard to a pitchers efficiency. With a little division of "black dots" and "total batters faced" you get the % of first pitch strikes. Any coach knows that when you get up 0-1, you now own the count.
Last edited by rz1
Bulldog 19Bulldog 195,000+ posts
quote:
If you want to see a mess give the book to a bench player and allow a couple of players to sit on each side of him.


I kept the high school score book for about 7 years. I kept the book most of the time I was in high school. He tried my junior year having a special-ed kid do it (he wanted to be a manager); I was tasked with helping him. I ended up just doing it myself normally.. Pitching charts are what I had trouble with..
Hawk19Hawk19100+ posts
quote:
never believed in a player's parent doing the scorebook and would suggest any parent don't do it. A parent has no business getting that close to the game. HS teams have student managers who do the books and that should be good enough.


I don't understand the anti-parent thing. Without the parents we'd have nothing. Of course every idiot that causes problems is a parent. There aren't any outside agitators in HS baseball....
zombywoofzombywoof1,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Hawk19:
I don't understand the anti-parent thing. Without the parents we'd have nothing. Of course every idiot that causes problems is a parent. There aren't any outside agitators in HS baseball....


Its not anti-parent but rather a parent's place in HS sports.

A parent doesn't walk into a class and help the teacher grade their kids paper. The only parental involvement is parent-teacher conference.

A parent don't belong as part of the HS game. The parents role in the baseball program is boosters, fundraisers, coaches/parents meetings and to root as spectators and fans during games.

The on-field stuff should be between the players, coaches and the school.
Last edited by zombywoof
Hawk19Hawk19100+ posts
quote:
Its not anti-parent but rather a parent's place in HS sports.

A parent doesn't walk into a class and help the teacher grade their kids paper. The only parental involvement is parent-teacher conference.

A parent don't belong as part of the HS game. The parents role in the baseball program is boosters, fundraisers, coaches/parents meetings and to root as spectators and fans during games.

The on-field stuff should be between the players, coaches and the school.


OK, I think were closer here than I thought...We're a small district (less than 1500 kids K-12). We have a booster club, a Parent-Teacher Organization, and a Foundation that helps provide things for the schools outside of normal funding.

But we also have parents helping in the classroom, (although I don't think they grade papers... Wink)
and doing field work, running the snack bars, taking tickets, etc. Parents are part of band, help coach the cheerleaders, and work with the drama department. A lot of them tend to float in and out of the organized groups.

Just for the record, I keep a book at games. The team managers keep the book. After the game the managers check their book against mine and make corrections (not hits vs errors, mostly things they missed completely). Another parent (who is also a teacher) puts the stats on the web.

Maybe because we're small, the line between just being involved and being involved as part of the boosters, etc gets blurred..... Wink
rz1rz15,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Hawk19:
Maybe because we're small, the line between just being involved and being involved as part of the boosters, etc gets blurred..... Wink

Sometimes small is HUGE!

The line is never blurred if the roles are spelled out, accepted, and there is respect across the board. What do they call that again Confused....Teamwork?
Last edited by rz1
zombywoofzombywoof1,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Hawk19:
Maybe because we're small, the line between just being involved and being involved as part of the boosters, etc gets blurred.....


You stated your point well. If the parents are that involved and are chipping in to make it better for all students in all areas of school life, then it's all good. Smile
Last edited by zombywoof

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