Baseball Scorekeeping: A Practical Guide to the Rules [Paperback]

Andres Wirkmaa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 2003

Many fans enjoy keeping track of baseball action with easy abbreviations written on simple grids. Serious scorekeeping, however, is more complicated than just jotting down runs, outs, and the final score. Official scorekeeping requires a thorough knowledge of a large body of rules—many of which are confusing, and all of which must be followed carefully to ensure that the scorekeeper’s data are valid.

With confidence and enthusiasm, Andres Wirkmaa leads the reader through the daunting maze of rules that govern official scorekeeping. Chapters explain and clarify the official scorer’s duties, responsibilities and authority; the official scorer’s reports; and all the game-to-game details such as player listings, substitute batters and runners, out-of-turn batters, called and forfeited games, runs batted in, base hits, stolen bases, sacrifices, putouts, assists, double and triple plays, errors (and instances when errors are not charged), wild pitches and passed balls, bases on balls, strikeouts, earned runs, winning and losing pitchers, and saves. Also covered are statistics, percentage records, minimum standards for individual championships, and consecutive hitting and playing streaks.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Wyckoff, New Jersey, attorney Andres Wirkmaa coaches baseball, has served as official scorekeeper for amateur baseball leagues, and is a member of SABR.

Product Details

• Paperback: 278 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (May 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786414480
• ISBN-13: 978-0786414482
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So you think you know the rules of the game..., January 26, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Baseball Scorekeeping: A Practical Guide to the Rules (Paperback)

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.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough and Very Readable, December 28, 2004

By 

D. R. Bricault (Chicago, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Baseball Scorekeeping: A Practical Guide to the Rules (Paperback)

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.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is THE book, July 22, 2006

By 

Monty House (West Lebanon, NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baseball Scorekeeping: A Practical Guide to the Rules (Paperback)

Mr. Wirkmaa patterns his book directly on the Rules of Baseball, therefore making it simple to go from the Rules to his interpretation of how the scoring would be handled for that particular situation. This type of editing lays out what is still a complicated subject in at least a methodical fashion.

My only disappointment on receiving the book was that he includes no diagrams on the scorekeeping itself. I wanted to see the actual scribblings when someone "runs the book." Not in there. I purchased another excellent book (not available through Amazon) entitled "The Scorekeeper's Friend" by Bill Glasco that has the level of diagramming (and explanations) that I was initially seeking.

All in all, any person serious about their scorekeeping should own Mr. Wirkmaa's book. I hope he follows it up with another.