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The best souvenir from a ballpark is a filled in scorecard. I never wanted a pennant, a foam finger or a tiny wooden bat. I wanted a scorecard with some stats, some photos and some stories. I always found my appreciation of the game to increase by keeping score. And I absolutely loved it when other people sitting around me would ask things like how many strikeouts the starting pitcher had. This year I am the official scorer for the Asheboro Copperheads, a team in the Coastal Plain League. The CPL is a wood bat summer league made up entirely of college players, like the Cape Cod League. Now, the Cape is the preeminent college league around and the CPL is a cut beneath that. Still, it counts Justin Verlander, Kevin Youkilis and Ryan Zimmerman among its alumni and in the 2008 MLB Draft, 115 players who played in the league were chosen.
When you are used to watching MLB games, you have a good idea what constitutes a hit or an error. But it is an entirely different point of view at this level, where the skill level is noticeably different. In my opinion, the level of play in the CPL is about equal to a second-division Low-A club. It looks even worse right now as all of the teams are missing players who are currently still active in the NCAAs. The starting shortstop for the Copperheads right now is a pitcher, as the team waits for several players on its roster to finish up their college season. So, even though I have scored hundreds of games live, this is quite a challenge. Recently, I had a game that was brutal to score. Usually you will have one or two plays that require you to make a judgment call. It is not unusual at all to have a game where there is nothing remotely difficult, with every call a clear hit or error. But this game from the weekend had about 15-20 plays that were difficult calls. Most of these were the usual ones. There were some wild pitch/passed ball calls (harder than you might think sitting directly behind the plate with the catcher and umpire blocking your view on low pitches), several Baltimore chops with what would have been bang-bang plays if either fielded cleanly or thrown accurately, hard shots that went off fielders' gloves and plays where infielders covered some ground to get to balls and then threw wildly to first base. But there were three that deserved closer scrutiny, ones that caused discussion in the press box with the PA announcer, the internet broadcasters and the scoreboard operator. The press box is normally a pretty friendly place. So, whenever voices are raised, you know that there’s some serious stuff going on. The one that caused the biggest discussion was a stolen base attempt. There was a runner on first and he took off for second. The catcher got up and threw (at least what passes for him) as a strike to second base. The only problem was that neither infielder opted to cover the bag. The second baseman got a glove on it but the ball rolled into the outfield and the runner ended up on third base. I scored it SB E4F. (Stolen base, error on second baseman fielding)
Generally, plays where the runner takes third base are scored a SB with an error on the catcher allowing the runner to take third. But in this case, the catcher cannot be faulted because the infielder fell asleep on the play. He doesn’t have time to see if there’s someone covering the bag; he has to get the ball away as quickly as possible and count on a teammate to be there to receive the throw. The broadcaster thought the error should go to the catcher because you cannot score a mental error on the fielder. Rule 10.12(8) says to charge an error to any fielder “whose failure to stop, or try to stop, an accurately thrown ball permits a runner to advance, so long as there was occasion for the throw. If such throw was made to second base, the official scorer shall determine whether it was the duty of the second baseman or the shortstop to stop the ball and shall charge an error to the negligent fielder.” The next questionable play came with a runner on first and the batting team up, 6-2, in the late innings. Without squaring before the pitch, the batter lays down a beautiful bunt that the pitcher makes a nice play on and fires to first in time to get the runner. But the ball arrives virtually the same time as the runner. It eludes the first baseman and runners end up on second and third. I scored it E3F SAC A1 (error first baseman fielding, sacrifice, assist to pitcher)
Even though I had serious doubts that the batter was sacrificing, generally all bunts are treated this way. The official scorer does have the discretion to rule it an attempt for hit, but 999 times out of 1,000 simply scores it a sacrifice. The pitcher made a nice play and his throw was accurate. It is a tough error on the first baseman, but to me the deciding factor was that it was the first baseman (and not the second baseman covering first) and that is a play he should make. The next day the first baseman contacted me and said that the ball hit the runner. I noticed no change of direction in the ball when the play happened live, but a follow up with the team’s coaches backed up this story. I had no choice but to submit a scoring change to the league office based on rule 10.12(a)(7) which says to charge an error to a fielder:
So, the play ended up as E1T SAC. The pitcher lost an assist and gained an error while the first baseman ended up with no error. The final close call came with runners on second and third and two out. A ball was hit to the first baseman, who makes a nice play fielding it and makes an accurate throw to the pitcher covering the bag. But the pitcher dropped the ball. It was a very close play at first base. I scored it E1F A3 (error pitcher fielding, assist first baseman) The other broadcaster protested this decision. Because I scored it an error the batter did not get an RBI and he seemingly wanted that to happen, arguing that it was a tough play. It was a tough play. But the pitcher covering first play is one that all levels of organized ball practice again and again. A tough play, but one in my estimation that should be made by players at the collegiate level. *****
Yesterday was our first game since the one with all of the tough calls. The very first batter hit a Baltimore chop and the fielder muffed it while getting ready to make the throw for a close play at first. Fortunately, that was the only seriously close call I had to make. But there was a 10.16(i) – this used to be 10.18(i) – in the game and that is always exciting for an official scorer. Bonus points to anyone who can describe the rule without looking it up. Trackback(0)
Comments (3)
New York Mets Online
written by Brian Joura, June 04, 2009
Thanks for the comments fellas! Andrew, I've never heard of that book but I'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks for the tip.
 written by Andrew C, June 04, 2009
Brian, another great post. I don't get any points, because I had to look up 10.18(i), but that's a doozy of a situation. I believe it came up yesterday in the top of the fifth of the Brewers/Marlins game.
Have you read Andres Wirkmaa's "Baseball Scorekeeping"? I find it's an excellent expansion on a lot of the rules and situations like these.
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In the past few seasons, I have been the backup scorer, so this is not entirely new for me, but it is the first time that I have the full-time gig. The Copperheads play at McCrary Park, which is a very nice place for a stadium built in 1946 for a mill league team. There is an enclosed press box, but quarters are cramped and amenities are scarce. Suffice it to say, there are no TV screens with replay monitors to aid a scorer in his decisions. You get one look at the play and that is it.
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