Scoring

My Uncle Rian used to take me to sporting events when I was younger. We went to Soccer games, Hockey games... and he taught me how to score. One infamous bet between the two of us occurred years after this first game... when I bet my uncle that Griffey would not hit a third home run after hitting two in a game. Well, he did. It was almost instant, possibly one or two pitches between the time bet was placed and the homer was hit. We joked about that for years. Sometime in 1991 or 1992 he taught me how to score... while trying to find my first scorebook I ran across one that contained my oldest (found to date) scored game. Funny, it turns out it was an away game. June 5th, 1992 against the Kansas City Royals. I must have been practicing my craft.

It is a C.S. Peterson Scoremaster and I did something that day that I've rarely done in the years since... scored in pencil! The problem with scoring in pencil, pencil fades (but allows for the occasional mistake).

I can't explain what it is like to score a game unless you have done so yourself. In a game ripe with History, it connects you on one more level. It is MY baseball history. It says "I was here, I participated". Most of all it just gives me pleasure.

I thought I had my first scorebook ever, but I guess not. Still, very exciting to find one of my first scorebooks from my childhood. I think the first game has been lost to history... so to speak.

I have about 7 or 8 scorebooks, all with multiple years spread around in them. The last couple of years I've gone to Kinko's and copied some old scoresheets 'cause the new scorebooks don't do justice. None of them ever do... for about five years I've been saying to myself that I need to make my own scorebook. I just haven't set aside the time. One of these days!

I like to go to a game, put on my radio, and score. It helps me stay much more focused on the game and I get less distracted by the crowd etc. I used to have a system one year where I color coded replacement pitchers/players differently... also I used to use different symbols for different kinds of strikes. For example an X for a foul, \ for called and / for swinging. Everyone has their own system yet any baseball fan/scorer should be able to pick up one and figure out what has happened.

Haven't scored yet this year (no scoresheets remain)... but hope to at least once or twice. Anyway, here is a blast from the past.




As you can see, or not, the Royals beat the Mariners 6-4