Baseball Scorecard for journalists

For other baseball reporters, what do you use for a baseball scorecard at games? I have always been curious as to what others use. Me personally, I use the Bob Carpenter model.

 

I ordered the Bob Carpenter before my first season on the beat and it has treated me very well.

 

Mine is sold, and manufactured, by a local sporting goods store. Been very good to me ... except when it's an all-star game where rules don't matter and everyone says "to hell with keeping a uniformed 1-through-9 lineup," letting all hell break loose and rendering a scorebook useless.

 

I covered one of those a few weeks ago. Things went well for the first four innings, then they started subbing and it got absolutely ridiculous. I was keeping track mainly of our two local guys, and one of them went 1-for-4 while batting in three different spots in the lineup. I was shooting pictures and in the first base dugout for most of the game, and it was obvious whoever was batting was whoever felt like it. No one on either side cared.
The funny part was seeing the "official" box score afterward. I think I kept up with it pretty well, at least with who got the big hits, and the official box score was nowhere near what I had. The local guy I had as being 1-for-4, they had him something like 3-for-5 because that's how many times his original spot in the order came up.

 

Yeah, lol, this is all too true. I guess it happens everywhere. They may as well just call it a "charity" game and have coaches umpire it, as opposed to dragging "all-star" status through the mud with paid officials.

 

I used to just draft out my own and make plenty of copies of it.

 

I had always just used a notepad, but my wife, who is a teacher, had an extra grade book in the basement. I stumbled across it, asked her if I could use it. Worked like a charm.

 

Try one of these ...

The Baseball Scorecard - Downloads

 

Had one of those a few years ago in which all 15 players batted, whether they were in the game or not. Worse, there was a triple play and I had no idea who was involved. But until one of the volunteers in the press box helped out, I was ready to write I Don't Know was at third!

 

I really like the iScore app for iPhone and iPad and used that when covering baseball and softball. It does cost about $10, but I recommend it for baseball and softball. If you do use it though, make sure you put the rosters in before you get to ballpark if you can. And maybe do a practice run with it too, like score a MLB game on TV with it before you use it for real when you're covering a game. Just to get used to it.

 

Ugh, a scorekeeping app? Is nothing sacred?

I use the Carpenter book. I Love To Score (heh) produces a book that has lines in the lineup card, which obviously makes for a neater book, but the largest book he makes is a 40-gamer.

 

If they were all batting, why would there be any confusion?

I keep score in a regular book, along with a notebook for more detailed info.