Aug 30 2009
Scoring: It’s a Hit
Scoring a base hit is really simple. Singles (1B), doubles (2B), and triples (3B) all are formatted the same way. A home run is recorded “HR”. Tough huh?
There are three ways to reach base (while they are empty) that I haven’t discussed yet: walking, getting hit by a pitch, and reaching on an error. These are all pretty simple as well. If the batter gets hit by a pitch, write down “HBP”. If the batter reaches on an error, it’s noted as an “E” followed by the position number of the player committing the error (for example, if the second baseman throws the ball away, write “E4″).
Walks are a little tricky because the notation is derived from the technical term. When a pitcher throws four balls to a batter, the batter is awarded a “base on balls”. Hence you record a walk as “BB”. Some people might want to right a “W”, but that is used as the stat abbreviation for wins.
You may recall in my first post on scoring, I said I preferred scorecards with an empty box instead of one with a diamond already there. Now I’m going to tell you what that space is for. You keep track of players on base by drawing the baseball diamond as he advances. If he gets a single, draw a line from where home plate to first would be. If he hits a home run, draw the whole diamond.
There are two more things to do when a player hits a home run (aside from either cheering or groaning). Shade in the diamond. Do this anytime someone scores. It makes it a lot easier to see how many runs have scored. Also, put a tally or dot to the left of the diamond. This denotes how many RBIs the player has earned in the at-bat.
Next time, we’re going to see what happens when runners are on base.
