The Joy of Keeping Score: How Scoring the Game Has Influenced and Enhanced the History of Baseball [Hardcover]

Paul Dickson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1996

Baseball has no other book like this.


In The Joy of Keeping Score, Paul Dickson celebrates one of the most unusual traditions in all of sports—the baseball scorecard.

To Dickson and to fans everywhere, baseball without a scorecard or box score is unthinkable. And within the history of the scorecard are some of baseball's greatest moments. From the first scorecard introduced in 1845, to the scoring system devised by direct-marketing genius L. L. Bean; from presidential scoring habits to batting titles decided by official scorers to Phil Rizzuto's inspired scoring symbol "WW,* Dickson delights in his subject. Henry Chadwick (the inventor of the scorecard), Ty Cobb, Mel Allen and Red Barber, FDR and Ike, concessionaire Harry M. Stevens, California Angels' official scorer, Ed Munson, and many others all play their parts in this history.

Among this book's many illustrations is a gallery of historic scorecards, some of them from baseball's most memorable contests, including Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, Babe Ruth's "called" home run, and Cal Ripken's record-breaking 2,131st consecutive game. In addition, Dickson provides basic and advanced scoring techniques for fans who record the games they see, a year-by-year timeline of rule changes, a guide to baseball's quirkiest statutes, stories of famous scoring blunders, and many more unexpected rewards.

For those who keep or have kept score, this book will be an elixir. For those who haven't, it will be a revelation. For baseball fans everywhere, it will be a treasure.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There are two reasons to head out to the ballpark. One is to passively watch the game, the other is to actively see it, and you can't do the latter without a scorecard. In this slim gem of a volume, Paul Dickson clearly explains and translates the quirky documentation system, which looks like cuneiform to the uninitiated, for recording what happens on the ball field, and why true fans are so adamant about doing it. Filled with history, anecdotes, and rules, it also reproduces--to the joy of scorers everywhere--the official scorer's records for some of baseball's most significant moments, including Don Larson's perfecto and Babe Ruth's called shot.

From Publishers Weekly

Scorekeeping in baseball was inaugurated nationally in 1863 by Henry Chadwick, who also invented the box score. Dickson (Baseball's Greatest Quotations) here teaches the rudiments of scoring, including how the players are numbered, some of the obvious symbols (e.g., SB is a Stolen Base) and some of the less obvious (K is the universal mark for the Strikeout). He explains the nuances of scoring a ball game and how to read a box score, and profiles some of the celebrities who liked to score games (Dwight D. Eisenhower and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, among others). We also see how it's done north of the border, from a Montreal Expos scorecard (a home run is un circuit); how the hot dog was invented; and how FDR introduced baseball lingo into politics. Dickson has written a testimonial to the joys of scoring that true ball fans will embrace. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 117 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802713076
• ISBN-13: 978-0802713070
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 7.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,427,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Dickson is the author of more than 45 nonfiction books and hundreds of magazine articles. Although he has written on a variety of subjects from ice cream to kite flying to electronic warfare, he now concentrates on writing about the American language, baseball and 20th century history. His most recent titles include Drunk: The Definitive Drinker's Dictionary, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Sputnik: The Shock of the Century and Slang: A Topical Dictionary of Americanisms.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, a nice read, buy it! But, it's lacking in areas., April 11, 1998

By 

David J. Sullivan (Jersey City, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Joy of Keeping Score: How Scoring the Game Has Influenced and Enhanced the History of Baseball (Paperback)

Don't expect this book to teach you how to score games. The book lacks a full-size sample scorecard to use, which I would have liked. It doesn't go into enough detail about scoring; being a beginner I was flummoxed attempting to score double-switches, bunts and teams batting around in an inning. It will get you going, but if you're like me and don't know how to score a game yet, you'll be looking for more. That aside, the anecdotes and illustrations make this a fun book to read. The subtitle "How Scoring the Game Influenced and Enhanced the History of Baseball" is an accurate description of the gist of the book. It's less of a how-to and more of a why-to.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you want to learn to keep score, don't buy this one., May 2, 2002

By 

Tracy Clark (Tacoma, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Joy of Keeping Score: How Scoring the Game Has Influenced and Enhanced the History of Baseball (Paperback)

Unfortunately, I purchased this book looking for detailed instructions on how to keep score. While there is a section for this, it's very brief and did not suit my needs. 4 stars however, for the informative history of scorekeeping. Very interesting and entertaining to read.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More nostalgia than instruction., April 16, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (upstate New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Joy of Keeping Score: How Scoring the Game Has Influenced and Enhanced the History of Baseball (Hardcover)

The subject more difficult than it looks, mainly owing to the variety of scorecard layouts and symbols involved (all entirely subjective). But whatever the system, the scorecard should document the the game sufficiently to record the statistics of the players, and in this, the book fails. Not a word about fielding averages, e.g., but still fun.