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"For when the one great Scorer comes
to write against your name,
He'll write not that you won or lost,
But how you played the game."
--Grantland Rice, 1908
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.............But even 'He' has gotta keep score!!.............
The great American game of baseball differs from most others in that it is the only game for which the fan may easily create his/her own, personal play-by-play summary of a game that he/she is watching. This game can be as mundane as your son's (or daughter's!) season-opening game at the local Little League park or as exciting--hopefully!--as Game Seven of the World Series.
Author Paul Dickson delivers, in this slim 128 page volume, a concise history of the art and science of scoring "...how (they) played the game." He also includes 'just-complete-enough' instructions on, and examples of, how to 'score' a baseball game for yourself.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
....Introduction
1. Why Score?
2. How to Tend a Scorecard--The Basics
3. Advanced Scoring Techniques
4. Scoring and Baseball History from A to Z
....Scorecards of Significant Games
....Acknowledgments
....Bibliography
....Index
....Introduction
"Scoring is the fan's game. It does not belong to the owners, players, their union, or Major League Baseball. It is literally ours."
The brief introduction section sets the tone for the rest of the book by asserting that scoring a baseball game will help the average fan better understand--and appreciate--the game as it is played on the field.
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1. Why Score?
"Indeed, the fan who can sit there with a pen or pencil and scoreboard in his or her lap controls the information that gives every game texture and context."
Indeed. It all comes down to being able to save the information that your eyes, ears and brain are processing. To graphically record the joy or displeasure that the action playing out before you brings to you. Where else can we scribe the ebb and flow of our emotions over a three or four hour period? And recall that joy, that displeasure, days, months or even years later with stunning clarity, realism and a sense of 'deja vu'?
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2. How to Tend a Scorecard--The Basics
"Scoring is based on a universal system of numbers and a varied collection of letters and symbols that allow for creativity and eccentricity: a common language with a rich and never-ending set of dialects..."
The basis of most systems of scoring rests on numbering the position of each member of the defense, '1' for pitcher, '2' for catcher and on through '9' for the right fielder. The game is scored by noting the actions of the defense in response to the reactions of the offense.
Yes, defense acts, offense reacts. The tempo of most games is controlled by the offense. The tempo of baseball (and softball) is controlled by the defense. Everyone waits for the pitcher--the defense--to initiate the action. Between these brief periods of action and reaction is ample time to record the scene that was just played out. Many find this 'time' to be the weak point of the game of baseball. The initiated, the cerebral, recognize that much of the game is 'played' in these quiet moments.
Short "lessons" in this section cover the combined use of:
-- a "grid",
-- a simple letter "code", and
-- the earlier mentioned "numbers"
...to record the play of the game:
-- from the simple 'K' to record a strikeout,
-- to a 'BB' or 'W' to indicate a 'base on balls' or 'walk'
-- to '6-4-3' indicating a double play of SS to 2B to 1B.
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3. Advanced Scoring Techniques
"The fact remains, though, that your system is your own and there is no right or wrong way to score."
This chapter builds on the basics mastered in the previous chapter and adds "amplifications" to the basic scoring system.
Amplifications that help the scorer:
- record a ground ball hit versus a line drive hit.
- assign an error to a particular fielder.
- indicate a line-up substitution.
- use color and diagrams to "code" the play of the game.
Author Dickson also introduces the concept of noting "defensive prowess" by marking certain plays with an asterisk or exclamation point.
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4. Scoring and Baseball History from A to Z
"Having mastered the basics of scoring, it's time to discover how scoring has influenced and enhanced the history of baseball."
This chapter comprises 60-plus pages, roughly one-half of the book. Short selections ranging from "A is for Abbreviations and Scoring Symbols" through "G is is for Gems and Errors" and "L is for L.L. Bean's System..." (Yes! That L.L. Bean!) to "Z is for Zamboni On the Field and Other Zany (but Relevant) Scoring Notations" comprise this chapter.
A few samples of the rich content follows.
"C is for Collecting Scorecards--Objects and Information"
Virtually everything is collectible today. It should be no surprise that baseball scorecards are now collectibles. The text cites a Sotheby's 1991 auction sale that brought $3300 for a scorecard from the 1933 All-Star Game. A dime program scorecard from the 1905 World Series sold for $24,200.
Dickson also notes that scorecards that are used, i.e. scored, tend to be worth less than un-used scorecards. The exception he notes is that a scored program from a significant game, "something on the order of a scored program from Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series," may be more valuable.
Included in this section are six pages of photographs of scorecards and scorecard covers from the 1880s through the 1950s. Each clearly evokes the 'feel' of a 'time-gone-by.'
[It has always been my fantasy to travel back in time--hey, I said 'fantasy'!--to attend a Yankees' game of the late 1920s or a Brooklyn Dodgers' game in the 1950s. Maybe I could stop 'in time' and pick up my Dad to see the game with me. That would be great...]
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"F is for Scorekeeping in French"
"From a 1968 Montreal Expos scorecard " we learn:
- a WP (wild pitch) = mauvais lancer
- a SH (sacrifice hit) = coup sacrifice
- a K (strikeout) = retrait au baton...(retreat with bat ??)
Keeping score in French makes even baseball sound exotic !!
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"G is for Gems and Errors"
The late, great baseball announcer Mel Allen, (This Week in Baseball), in 1954 publicly called for an official statistic to be added to the many that baseball already recorded. In recognition of a "sparkling play", Allen championed the awarding of a gem."
One might be awarded for the play that rips the cheer from your throat as the opponent takes a sure, game-winning base hit away from your team. And you're left shaking your head and begging the fans sitting around you 'how-did-he-do-that!?'
Or one might be awarded for the opposite situation. Where your team stymies the opponent with a "sparkling" did-you-see-that! "play".
Any fan who 'roots' with his heart, and not his head, has felt that joy or that crushing blow more than once.
The author advises: "Award them sparingly." (Kind of like a MH rating ??)
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This entire section from "A" to "Z" is full of interesting tidbits that reflect scoring's impact on the play, the records and the people of Major League Baseball. The text is easy to read in 'bites' of whatever size the reader chooses or has time to read. Beautiful, clear pictures of players, fans, ballparks, games, etc. complement the text perfectly.
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Several appendices complete the text.
Scorecards of Historic Games
Here are reproductions of 'scored' programs of games instantly recognizable to any baseball fan. The game ended by Bobby Thomson's "shot heard round the world." The game in which Babe Ruth "called his shot." Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. (The card is achingly beautiful--in its starkness--to any baseball scoring fan. Well, maybe not a Dodgers fan.)
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Acknowledgments
The many people who assisted in completing his "project" are....well, acknowledged.
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Bibliography
Lists over one hundred books, newspaper articles and magazine articles used in writing or referenced in the book. This could keep any baseball fan (Me!) busy for a long time.
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Index
From "abbreviations" to "Zamboni", a comprehensive index--totalling over 400 page citations--for the contents of this book.
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My Final Thoughts
This book is indeed a small text containing only 117 numbered pages (128 by epinions database), measuring roughly 7&1/2" square. (Yes, I measured it!) The pages are a cream color which 'sets off' perfectly the profuse number of photographs and illustrations scattered throughout the book. This book is a visual and mental treat for the beginning or advanced baseball fan.
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"Just the facts, ma'am."
Year - 1996, First Edition
Publisher - Walker Publishing Company, Inc.
Author - Paul Dickson
Design - Ron Monteleone
ISBN #- 0-8027-1307-6
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