The horrors of school statkeepers

Some schools are total stat whores. A small academy (one of the schools founded after school desegregation in the South) here used to count seemingly everyone who got near the ballcarrier as having assisted on a tackle. It had to be that reason why they'd have five guys with 100 tackles at the end of the season.

They got a new coach and they thankfully don't do that anymore.

One of the schools we cover had the same scorekeeper for baseball for years. A retired Marine colonel, his book was as spotless as you can imagine a former Marine's. A work of art. He always sent in his stuff for our weekly stat leaders on time. If we needed anything else, he was a quick phone call away. Shame of it is he retired this year from keeping the book. Folks like that are a treasure in this business and I've always made it a point to profusely thank them for their cooperation and engagement.

 

I was always taught that if someone gets in a basketball game, he/she gets in the box even with 0-0-0.

I understand some place leave those people out for space/time.

Is there a definitive answer?

 

I had a guy who was, in his own way, as meticulous as your marine. One of the local schools had (has?) a local accountant to do their football statistics. He approached his hobby with the same attention to detail he would have if he was doing a tax return. In the pre-computer days, he would actually use some sort of accounting calculator and he LOOKED like he was trying to balance somebody's budget in the press box. Of course, now he uses software like everybody else.

But you can bet your ass that he was accurate. When I'd cover, we were always spot on, usually off a couple yards here and there based completely on a couple of plays where, say, I thought the ball was at the 11-yard line and he spotted it at the 12 (high school fields aren't always clearly marked).

 

The only time I've ever see this been in the ninth inning of a game where that runner doesn't really matter.... never heard of defensive indifference in the third inning.

 

You learned correctly. The box documents those who played, not just those who scored.

Even the AP Stylebook concurs. In the Sports Guidelines section, under the Basketball entry, in the BOX SCORE subsection: "In listing the players, begin with the five starters -- two forwards, center, two guards -- and follow with all substitutes who played."

 

I worked at one paper where the copy editors would get rid of opposing teams individuals that weren't in our local area. They would just keep the totals.

I believe we covered 30 schools there at the time.

 

It happens often, especially at low levels. Runners on first and third, the defense doesn't want to give the runner on third a chance to score, so when the guy takes off from first, the catcher eats it to hold the runner on third. That's a fielder's choice but will often be called a stolen base. When the defenses are more skilled, they'll trust the ability to catch, throw, catch, throw and catch (cathcher to second, second back to catcher) to throw out an aggressive runner going home from third. But even in NCAA Division I, you'll be surprised how often a team decides to eat it to avoid letting the runner on third have a chance to score.

 

I've read papers where the box score doesn't include anyone who didn't score. And there's been a few times where only three or four players appear in a box score for one team.

If that were my policy, there would be have been two times this season where only four players appeared for the big-school girls and four other times where only five appeared. (Heck, as I look at it now, there would have been two times where only five players appeared for the juco men's team.)

 

Learn something new everyday.

Most of the baseball I've covered has been at a fairly high amateur level and there were so many passed balls when I played in high school that the catcher probably never had a chance to eat it.

 

That seems both nit-picky and unrealistic. For one, many boxscore formats are not set up to even list starters. College and pro boxscores do, but not high school ones. Look at that sample boxscore and look at all the info you probably won't have from every HS game.

Also, are you really going to take every player for every boxscore? If a middle school team scores four points are you going to put the name of all 12 players in an agate recap? I doubt it, AP stylebook be damned.

 

We have two different box styles, a short box for games we cover that don't involve two district teams and a long box for games that do.

In the long box, we list everyone that either: A. attempted a shot; B. attempted a free throw; or C. got a rebound or steal. If you don't do anything of the sort, you don't get listed in the box.

 

Coach for a basketblal team had a stud player one year and the kid always had 20-plus points and 20-plus rebounds. I could buy the points - he was a good player - but the rebound totals were absurd.

This continued for a few weeks and I finally got the chance to go cover one of their games. During the remaining minutes of the game, the kid got a rebound and the bench starting going nuts. I leaned over and asked a manager why. He said "Stud Player just got his 35th rebound to set the state record."

After the game I went up to the coach and he was all excited about this kid's state record. I said "Coach, I've got the team down for just 32 total rebounds and the kid down for 12."

His face went white. "Oh, well, I'll guess we need to look back over the film and check it out."

When they called it their scores, the kid's rebound totals decreased significantly after that.