Why Keep Score?
There are probably hundreds of unique reasons, but here are a few we like:
- It's fun! What's better than jumping to your feet after a hometown home run? Scribbling in the diamond afterwards, of course. Or writing a silly baseball name in your book. Or figuring out how you want to mark a balk. Or say balk! And where else do you get to write a backwards "K"?
- It's art. About that backwards "K" - it's meant to evoke a batter looking back at a missed opportunity. That's deep. We've seen some brilliant scorecards out there, born of passion and excitement, that go far beyond marking hits and runs with sketches, pictures, word art, and more - you're only limited by your own creativity. And even if that's not your style, there's a lot of pleasing geometry in every scorecard.
- It tells you something about yourself. Developing your own scorekeeping style means making a lot of choices about how you express yourself. Do you like to keep balls and strikes in meticulous rows, or not at all? Is it "GIDP" or "DP," "HB" or "HBP," "S" or "SF" or "SAC"? Do you like a pencil or a pen, a program scorecard or a bespoke scorebook? Your book says a lot about the way you see the world. (Or maybe it doesn't, in which case it says that you embrace chaoooooooossssssss)
- It's a link to the past. Scorekeeping is an art that has evolved over a century, back to the days of tiny gloves and spats on cleats. Maybe it will remind you of bygone days on the diamond - sometimes, cards remind us of our dad teaching us how to mark a card. (We sometimes wish he hadn't encouraged us to be a Phillies fan.)
- It's a conversation starter. We can't tell you how many times our scorecard has made us popular at the park - people popping up to ask us "hey, did that guy strike out three times tonight already?" or "who turned that last double play?" Or how to keep score, or just "hey! That's cool." Ballgames are a great place to meet people and make friends, if only for an afternoon, and scorekeeping can help facilitate that.
- It's a souvenir and a record. A ticket stub doesn't tell you much about a ballgame. But a scorecard from even the most mundane game will remind you of players, friends, experiences, and more. And when you do get a great card - a no-hitter, a cycle, a walkoff, a playoff gem (or even a crushing playoff disappointment!) - every minute is right there in your hands when you look at it again.
- It's "zen." We're pretty easily distracted, ourselves, and we've found that with everything going on at a typical ballpark - not to mention in our rows or on our phones - we like to remind ourselves that it's a pretty great game we're watching and it takes a heck of a lot of talent to play it. Scorekeeping provides a lens to focus through.