Posted on 07/12/2013 2:07:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The first thing Bruce Levy did upon recent entry into Yankee Stadium while accompanied by his in-laws and teenage son was to purchase a program in the area of the concourse behind home plate.
The vendor handed it to him along with a small blue pencil.
For keeping score, the vendor said.
I know I always keep score, said Levy, 50, from Morristown, N.J.
The vendor, who said he was prohibited by his employer from giving his name to a reporter, explained: People today dont know what the pencil is for. Its a dying thing.
Dying, perhaps, but not dead yet. Against a tide of technology and a ballpark culture of entertainment options and limited attention spans, the scorekeeping pencil like its first cousin at miniature golf courses has persisted.
At about 3 ¼ inches long and with no eraser on top, the pencil has helped carry on the traditional method of scoring a ballgame that is generally believed to have begun with a late 19th-century sportswriter named Henry Chadwick.
Levy, who grew up near Yankee Stadium and who attends a few games every season, vowed to continue the struggle for conventional scorekeepings survival.
Im going to teach my son tonight, he said. The boy, Aaron Levy, 15, admitted that he did not know the proper markings a 9-2 putout (right field to catcher) from a backward K (strikeout looking).
His grandfather, Ira Antin, said one deterrent to ballpark scorekeeping has been the inability to purchase a mere scorecard.
I worked across the street in the old Stadium in the 1940s, selling ice cream, he said. They sold scorecards for a nickel.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I used to love keeping score with a paper and pencil. I do have to say that apps such as GameChanger have made scoring games really easy.
Back when I was still going to ball games, I probably would keep score about once a season or so. It’s therapeutic, almost meditative. And geeky, I know. I would basically score myself by how few “WW”s I marked - “wasn’t watching”
Walter Sobchak: OVER THE LINE!
Smokey: Huh?
Walter Sobchak: I'm sorry, Smokey. You were over the line, that's a foul.
Smokey: Bullshit. Mark it 8, Dude.
Walter Sobchak: Uh, excuse me. Mark it zero. Next frame.
Smokey: Bullshit, Walter. Mark it 8, Dude.
Walter Sobchak: Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.
Out comes the .45...
The entire broadcast announcing crew of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They make quite a big deal of it.
I never understood it. My dad did his scoring in a whole log book, just seemed goofy to me.
I was lucky My Team MOM knew how to keep it for all the games.
I sometimes think the Team Mom had the hardest job of all.
Depending on what she would stand for!
The best crutch I ever had on a LL team!
Talking about this reminds me of another type of “score” I have seen at the baseball game.
In the Royals hay-days of the late 70s and in the 80s I had some season tickets — these were good seats.
Across the aisle and two rows forward of me was an elderly couple that came to the games regularly as well. She brought her knitting. He brought a tape player and a home made wire hanger that he used to hang it on the rail in front of his seats. He had a set of headphones and a pad of musical transcription score paper. He would listen to the music he was working on and do transciption arrangements of the musical score as he was watching the game.
I assumed he was a professor of music and he was arranging classical scores for a small ensemble or something. It was interesting because he followed the game carefully while he did this and could seem to do both at the same time.
When you "score" by hand.. it really doesn't count.
Scoring games on scorecards sucks anymore because of all the lineup changes after the 7th inning. Even with an eraser.
Are any of those familiar names later stars in the majors?
My husband knows, much because he always kept complete records for his softball team. As long as there are softball leagues, someone will know how to score.
And I still know how to score bowling, even though I hardly ever play it and the last time was 4 years ago.
yeah, Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs, coupla Hall of Famers - that’s pretty sweet
...and Boggs was hitting sixth.
...and Ripken was 2-for-13 on the day (well, two days).
High school coaches and their charges.
I used to largely because it helped keep the flow of the game straight in my head. (”Did the Mariners strike out in order in the third inning or the fourth? Oh, both? Never mind.”) I think it’s a little easier in the American League because of the double-switching that is common procedure in the National. These days I just drown my sorrows in beer. Did I mention I’m a Mariners fan? ;-)
Oh no. Thrown out rounding third again.
I had tickets for the Mets. Had a book from little league which I used to score games.
I miss that. Think I will go to some Missions games and keep score.
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