Keeping the Scorebook

[HeinekenMan]

How do you handle the scorebook? Do you keep it yourself? Do you have a mom or dad keep the book?

My wife thinks it's fun to keep the scorebook. But she is in way over her head and doesn't understand the kinds of things I want to see in the book. She scores fielding errors as hits and doesn't note wild pitches or passed balls or caught stealing, etc. She doesn't mark where the pitching changes occur. You get the idea.

Bless her, she's trying to help. But she won't listen to me when I try to discuss it with her. She's stubborn that way. And I really need more data to help me figure out the team's weak spots.

So...I've decided to keep my own scorebook. After having a kid throw way too many pitches last Saturday, I decided that I will always keep my own pitch count, too. I'm not excited about keeping the scorebook, but I want it to be done correctly. And I think it will help me manage the game.

Have you tried to keep your own book during the game? How difficult is it? Do you think it will affect my ability to coach? Do you think it will help me be a better coach?

[Coach C]

Best case senerio find a mom or dad that has an ipad with iscore and have them sit close to the dugout. I've had moms make wonderfull scorekeepers. You need to focus on coaching.
At the younger levels stats ment little to me, after you have practiced and have some games under your belt you know what these kids can do. I would refer to the book for:
-IP/Pitch count, AB, games/innings played, positions, so I could provide some parity in developing them. Also the umpire will loose the count at times so he will ask.

[scorekeeper]

…My wife thinks it's fun to keep the scorebook. But she is in way over her head and doesn't understand the kinds of things I want to see in the book. She scores fielding errors as hits and doesn't note wild pitches or passed balls or caught stealing, etc. She doesn't mark where the pitching changes occur. You get the idea.

What it does is forces the scorer to actually watch the game, and most people find that appealing. Go to the link and save a copy for her. Its not by any means perfect, but it can’t hurt!

http://www.infosports.com/scorekeeper/images/scorekeeping_for_dummies.pdf

Bless her, she's trying to help. But she won't listen to me when I try to discuss it with her. She's stubborn that way. And I really need more data to help me figure out the team's weak spots.

I know the perfect situation is to have every conceivable piece of data possible, but let me make a suggestion. Determine what data you think you want to see, why, and how you want it presented before you go much further. That way no matter who’s keeping score, you’ll get what you believe you need as a minimum.

So...I've decided to keep my own scorebook. After having a kid throw way too many pitches last Saturday, I decided that I will always keep my own pitch count, too. I'm not excited about keeping the scorebook, but I want it to be done correctly. And I think it will help me manage the game.

Sounds to me as though you need a scorer and a statistician. Believe it or not, they’re 2 very different things. You can have your statistician track things like pitch counts and substitutions, and your wife can keep the scorebook. BTW, I’m assuming your child is on the team. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

As for her not understanding things like hits, errors, WPs, PBs, and SBs, don’t stress over it. She simply doesn’t understand scoring a game, and evidently you aren’t willing to risk your marriage over something so silly. If you can convince her to look at the thing I suggested you saved, she might just begin to get the idea.

Have you tried to keep your own book during the game? How difficult is it? Do you think it will affect my ability to coach? Do you think it will help me be a better coach?

Having been a scorer for many a moon, my strong suggestion is for you to NOT, repeat NOT try to score and coach/manage. Both take far too much focus to do well, and what will eventually happen is, both will suffer.

I wish you luck.

[HeinekenMan]

I kept my own book today. I don't think it affected my coaching much, but my scorebook work wasn't great. I sent my wife 2-3 links about scorekeeping a few weeks ago. I don't know whether she looked at any of it. She insisted on keeping the book herself today. A girl hit a pop up behind second base. I scored it an error. It could have been scored a bloop single. There were two throwing errors on the play. My wife said something to me, and I asked her what she put down. She gave the girl a home run. LOL. Since we lost 16-0, I'm not really sure I want to ever see the scorebook again. This new league is for real.

[raptor]

I kept my own book today. I don't think it affected my coaching much, but my scorebook work wasn't great. I sent my wife 2-3 links about scorekeeping a few weeks ago. I don't know whether she looked at any of it. She insisted on keeping the book herself today. A girl hit a pop up behind second base. I scored it an error. It could have been scored a bloop single. There were two throwing errors on the play. My wife said something to me, and I asked her what she put down. She gave the girl a home run. LOL. Since we lost 16-0, I'm not really sure I want to ever see the scorebook again. This new league is for real.

If she wants to keep the book she is GOING to keep the book! You know that one! Let her do it exclusively is my advice..she will get better..just continue to keep her close durig games..and that is a minor problem. This is not a dig..but if you are allowing hitters to score on pop ups behind second scorekeeping takes a back seat to defense considering the quality of competition you're now playing.

[HeinekenMan]

Today, I wanted to crawl into the scorebook.

[scorekeeper]

Today, I wanted to crawl into the scorebook.

Which is why I suggested you concentrating on coaching and have someone else score the game.

You didn’t say this was softball. If you had, I’d never have suggested that link. The games are close, but the rules are different. What age are we talking about?

Good luck.

[The Glovedoctor]

I tried keeping that "GameChanger" on my mobile phone as I coached, and that was a trainwreck waiting to happen. My kids were playing 7 year old machine pitch last spring, and I insist on having a scorebook kept - for several reasons, but most importantly keeping track of how many plate appearances each kid gets and how they are coming along.

Game Changer is pretty cool.

[The Glovedoctor]

I tried keeping that "GameChanger" on my mobile phone as I coached, and that was a trainwreck waiting to happen. My kids were playing 7 year old machine pitch last spring, and I insist on having a scorebook kept - for several reasons, but most importantly keeping track of how many plate appearances each kid gets and how they are coming along.

Game Changer is pretty cool.

[AdamInNY]

I tried keeping that "GameChanger" on my mobile phone as I coached, and that was a trainwreck waiting to happen. My kids were playing 7 year old machine pitch last spring, and I insist on having a scorebook kept - for several reasons, but most importantly keeping track of how many plate appearances each kid gets and how they are coming along.

Game Changer is pretty cool.

Gamechanger works well on an ipad or tablet. If you're going to use it, practice with it during a game on TV to get the hang of it. If I'm coaching I can't keep the book, too much going on.

I've also use a regular book, and transcribed it into GameChanger after to have the stats later on.

[Ursa Major]

Our league requires volunteer hours from every family, and keeping the book is one way to fulfill the requirements. It also offers lessons to new scorekeepers.

With that said, if your wife isn't willing to understand that not keeping an accurate book undermines the purpose of what she's doing, your problems are far bigger than we can address here. I have a feeling that she thinks you're a pedantic, [email protected] by insisting that the book be scrupulously kept. Maybe you can compromise?

I agree that coaches shouldn't be keeping the book - your job is to watch as much as is going on as possible. Much of what you're teaching kids is that they need to be prepared for every play, even though the ball may come to them only a couple of times a game. If they know you're not watching 'em, they'll wool-gather in the outfield. One sign of a good coaching staff is that each member grabs a kid when the defense comes off the field and gives some advice/corrections/reminders - and when often the kid they're grabbing wasn't directly involved with a play.

[HeinekenMan]

Which is why I suggested you concentrating on coaching and have someone else score the game.

You didn’t say this was softball. If you had, I’d never have suggested that link. The games are close, but the rules are different. What age are we talking about?

Good luck.

It wasn't softball. There was a 10-year-old girl playing on a baseball team. She was the lead-off hitter. She was good, obviously.

[scorekeeper]

It wasn't softball. There was a 10-year-old girl playing on a baseball team. She was the lead-off hitter. She was good, obviously.

Kool!

For those who love FPSB, I didn’t mean what I said as any kind of slur at all. I was just stating that the rules are different.

[scorekeeper]

Gamechanger works well on an ipad or tablet. If you're going to use it, practice with it during a game on TV to get the hang of it. If I'm coaching I can't keep the book, too much going on.

Its really a great product, but whoever’s using it still needs to understand the rules of scoring and use good judgment.

I've also use a regular book, and transcribed it into GameChanger after to have the stats later on.

I’ve tried that myself with my scoring program, but I’ve found the things a regular book misses that can’t be gleaned, are the things I find extremely informative. The main thing is not being able to tell whether a pitch was a called strike, a fouled strike, or a swung at and missed strike. I find I’ve become more and more addicted to the metrics those things produce.

And since I’ve begun looking at moving runners relative to where they’re at and how many outs there are, its getting a little addictive too. Trying to pull that info from a standard scorebook can be extremely difficult.

[scorekeeper]

Our league requires volunteer hours from every family, and keeping the book is one way to fulfill the requirements. It also offers lessons to new scorekeepers….

I’m curious. What does your league do with all the books that are kept? IOW, do all the books get somehow turned into numbers and entered into some kind of “common” database?

The reason I’m asking is, I’m always looking for data relating to pitch counts and rest, and if you had a common database with that info in it, I’d love to get my hands on it!