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Who Scores Games by Hand Anymore?
New York Times ^ | July 11, 2013 | July 11, 2013

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 don’t know what the pencil is for. It’s 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 scorekeeping’s survival.

“I’m 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 ...


TOPICS: History; Hobbies; Sports
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1 posted on 07/12/2013 2:07:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

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.


2 posted on 07/12/2013 2:09:25 PM PDT by cdga5for4
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To: nickcarraway

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”


3 posted on 07/12/2013 2:12:33 PM PDT by Hegewisch Dupa
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To: nickcarraway
Scoring by hand could be life threatening.

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...

4 posted on 07/12/2013 2:16:25 PM PDT by TADSLOS (The Event Horizon has come and gone. Buckle up and hang on.)
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To: nickcarraway

The entire broadcast announcing crew of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They make quite a big deal of it.


5 posted on 07/12/2013 2:19:17 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: nickcarraway

I never understood it. My dad did his scoring in a whole log book, just seemed goofy to me.


6 posted on 07/12/2013 2:19:38 PM PDT by discostu (Go do the voodoo that you do so well.)
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To: TADSLOS

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!


7 posted on 07/12/2013 2:20:45 PM PDT by Conserev1 ("Still Clinging to my Bible and my Weapon")
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To: nickcarraway

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.


8 posted on 07/12/2013 2:20:54 PM PDT by KC Burke (Officially since Memorial Day they are the Gimmie-crat Party.)
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To: nickcarraway
How about this - the 33-inning game 'tween Pawtucket and Rochester (Yessir Mr. Benny!!) in 1981 (the broadcaster keeping score had four-colors of ink on-hand):


9 posted on 07/12/2013 2:24:16 PM PDT by Hegewisch Dupa
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To: nickcarraway
Who Scores Games by Hand Anymore?

When you "score" by hand.. it really doesn't count.

10 posted on 07/12/2013 2:27:59 PM PDT by humblegunner (Creepy Ass Cracker)
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To: nickcarraway

Scoring games on scorecards sucks anymore because of all the lineup changes after the 7th inning. Even with an eraser.


11 posted on 07/12/2013 2:28:01 PM PDT by Misterioso (It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing - Duke Ellington)
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To: Hegewisch Dupa

Are any of those familiar names later stars in the majors?


12 posted on 07/12/2013 2:30:47 PM PDT by Misterioso (It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing - Duke Ellington)
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To: nickcarraway

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.


13 posted on 07/12/2013 2:31:08 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Technological progress cannot be legislated.)
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To: Misterioso

yeah, Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs, coupla Hall of Famers - that’s pretty sweet


14 posted on 07/12/2013 2:32:13 PM PDT by Hegewisch Dupa
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To: Hegewisch Dupa

...and Boggs was hitting sixth.


15 posted on 07/12/2013 2:42:51 PM PDT by cdga5for4
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To: cdga5for4

...and Ripken was 2-for-13 on the day (well, two days).


16 posted on 07/12/2013 2:43:47 PM PDT by cdga5for4
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To: humblegunner
Who Scores Games by Hand Anymore?

High school coaches and their charges.

17 posted on 07/12/2013 2:45:44 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: nickcarraway

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? ;-)


18 posted on 07/12/2013 2:50:28 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: humblegunner
When you "score" by hand.. it really doesn't count.

Oh no. Thrown out rounding third again.

19 posted on 07/12/2013 2:57:22 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (This message has been recorded but not approved by Obama's StasiNet. Read it at your peril.)
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To: Billthedrill

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.


20 posted on 07/12/2013 2:57:53 PM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (The reason we own guns is to protect ourselves from those wanting to take our guns from us.)
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