Baseball Scorekeeping: A Practical Guide to the Rules

Rating:
Summary: Thorough and Very Readable
Review: As an official scorer for a university baseball team, I was pleased to run across Andres Wirkmaa's book, Baseball Scorekeeping. I was hoping to find a text that would serve as a guide to resolving those "knotty problems" that come up every once in a while that present real challenges to any official scorekeeper. Wirkmaa's handy little book accomplishes that, and more. It takes the reader through Rule 10 of the Official Rules of Baseball, step by step, with plenty of examples. Wirkmaa mixes a decidedly scholarly tone -- he is an attorney by trade -- with a sense of humor, all in a very approachable and engaging style. I would have liked to see a few examples of scoring notation to supplement each rule, but since many scorekeepers have their own symbols and tricks, this may have been difficult to do without confusing novice readers. The book is well written, clearly organized, and valuable to anyone who is involved in scorekeeping.

Rating:
Summary: So you think you know the rules of the game...
Review: Baseball Scorekeeping

Do you care what your favorite player's batting average is? Are his on-base percentage and his slugging percentage important to you? Then you owe a real debt of gratitude to baseball's official scorers. All the statistics that are generated around the game of baseball depend upon the oft-maligned and seldom properly-appreciated scorers of the game.

And baseball scorers, as well as fans, owe a debt of gratitude to Andres Wirkmaa for writing this interesting and informative book.

Baseball Scorekeeping is a thorough and meticulous discussion of Rules 10.01 through 10.24 of baseball's official rulebook, pertaining to "The Official Scorer." It is an essential reference for any professional scorekeeper, and for anyone who keeps score seriously.

Until I read this book, I had no idea of the complex rules that go into keeping score, nor of the amount that a scorer must know to do his or her job properly. The scorekeeper must pay strict attention at all times to what is happening on the field, and must often use his or her judgment and discretion to apply the rules so that the resulting statistics will be meaningful and comparable.

Filled with examples and illustrations of complicated baseball situations, the book takes on the task of explaining not only what is required of the scorekeeper, but why. Despite the rigid format imposed by the rulebook, the author manages some humor in unexpected places. I particularly enjoyed his explicatory subtitles (he refers, for example, to the "...Seemingly Pointless, Unnecessary and Incongruous Exception to Rule 10.05(e)".

Wirkmaa clears up many misconceptions. A common one is that a fielder must touch the ball to be charged with an error. Not true! The difference between a misplay and an error, the difference between a plate appearance and an at bat, understandable explanations of a fielder's choice, and how to calculate earned runs, all are here. In this surprisingly fascinating book, you will also find out how a runner can be caught stealing and still be safe on base, how a pitcher can be credited with a strikeout while the batter reaches first base safely, and how a batter may have his plate appearance charged to one pitcher but the run he eventually scores charged to a second pitcher.

If you think you understand all of baseball's rules, buy this book and test yourself. Baseball Scorekeeping is a wonderful book to "dip into" occasionally just for fun. And when questions about scoring come up, you will find the answers here.

The book is printed on acid-free paper for a long shelf life.