How to Use a Baseball Scorecard

For many baseball fans, keeping score is a required part of watching the game. Scorecards are available at most ballparks, and learning how to use the grid-based system of recording a game play by play is easy.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Write down the lineup in the players' column. This column is at the far left of the card, and it has the largest boxes. Enter each player's name from top to bottom in the order they will hit.

2. Record each player's position beside the name (there will usually be a box for this). The positions are numbered 1 to 9 in this order: pitcher, catcher, first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, center field and right field.

3. Mark down what happens in each player's at bat. Mark the position numbers of each fielder who produced a player's out (for example, a ground ball from shortstop to first is marked 6-3). A strikeout is marked with a "K."

4. Indicate when a player gets on base and how he advances. Look at the at-bat box as you would the baseball diamond, placing first base in the bottom right corner and traveling counterclockwise around the box.

5. Record when the runner scores a run by traveling around the basepaths. The most popular way to do this is to draw a diamond in the box and completely shade it in. Or, circle the final play that brought him to home plate.

6. Fill out all the players' game statistics after the game. There probably will be columns on the scorecard for hits, runs, RBIs and any extra-base hits. There should also be a section to mark down the pitchers' stats.

Tips & Warnings

• There are two ways to indicate hits on a scorecard. A single, double, triple and home run are respectively marked "1B," "2B," "3B" and "HR." Or, use small, horizontal slashes, one for each base taken on the hit.
• Most other plays are marked with the initials of the play's name. A stolen base is "SB," a fielder's choice is "FC" and a wild pitch is "WP." An error is "E" followed by the position number of the player who made the error.
• There are actually several systems of scoring a baseball game on a scorecard, as many people develop their own methods.

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