Baseball Scorekeeping Dilemma Suggestions Needed

My on air partner is going to do the local minor league team's TV game of the week this year. He has never learned to keep score at a baseball or softball game. Since his first game is Friday, I am trying to come up with a layout that would make things easier for him and I am not getting anywhere. I suggested a page with a box for each players at bat where he could write down what happened. That would allow him to go back later in the game and refrence what happened earlier. But he says he wants pitch counts and things like that as well. I have offered to help, but am not available for the first couple of weeks. Anyone have any suggestions on how to simplify the whole thing as much as possible for him?

Thanks for the help.

 

I got nothing.

 

Something tells me this will not end well. Dude doesn't know how to keep score, and he's going to be calling a baseball game? Wow.

I say just give him a scorebook, so he can keep pitch counts and all that, and let him develop his own shorthand for keeping track of what happens. He doesn't have to know all the position numbers, etc., to be able to keep a reasonably easy to follow book.

Shit, I learned to keep score by age 6 or 7, so I think an adult who knows a little about the game can figure it out.

 

Already have it all planned out for him.

Give him a scorebook, and as far as pitch counts go, that part is easy.

2 sheets of paper.....Innings 1.....2...and so on through 9.

He puts x for strike, o for ball in each inning......and have him total them up at the end of each half inning.

 

It's not that he can't learn and I am guessing he will know how within a couple of weeks of starting. But this came up very quickly. The local cable channel thought they would have someone else and that person backed out Friday. Since my partner has done some work for them in the past, they asked him because they knew the on air stuff would not trouble him. For them, the score keeping isn't a big deal, but he still wants to be able to do the best he can right away.

 

Get him a scorebook, have him do it off a televised game this week. That should get him in a rhythm.

 

I think a regular scorebook is the way to go. Even if he writes "FO CF" instead of "F8," who cares? As long as he knows what it means, that's all that matters. Most of the shorthand is pretty intuitive, as it is.

 

That's what I was gonna say. Practice on TV games.

 

It's like a person learning how to drive and wanting to race in the Daytona 500 a couple of days later. Whoa, there; let's start with the basics.

Forget pitch counts. I have no idea how anyone can call a game and not be able to keep score. It's not possible to remember what all the players in a game did two hours ago. I suspect you could sit down with him and keep score of two or three games on TV.

Good luck.

 

Dirk, don't think in terms of "easing him into it." Have him do it the right way the first time. Yeah, forget the pitch counts, because that really isn't going to be useful to him on a broadcast. That's more useful to a print journalist.

But get him a Scoremaster, tell him to read the instructions in the front of the book, and make sure he does one game -- on TV, in person, on radio -- before he goes on the air.

 

Harkens me back to Phil Rizzuto on Yankees telecasts. Bill White noticed that Scooter wrote "WW" into his scorebook several times a game, and curiosity finally got the better part of him:

White: "What does 'WW' stand for?"

Rizzuto: "Wasn't watching."

 

I agree with the above advice to let him score a game off TV and go from there.

Perhaps you could each score the game and then you could compare his version with yours. If there are any discrepancies, you could correct them before he has to do the game for real.