St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-12
SHALL SCORERS AGREE?


New York, and his record was 55S miles.
SHALL SCORERS AGREE?
A Suggestion Thrown Out to
Western Association Scorers.
Now that the new Western Base Ball
association is to take an important
place in the sporting organizations of
the country, its business should be con-
Quoted upon fixed principles and under
approved rules. This year will be more
important, in the matter of records, than
any that has preceded it, and inasmuch
as the record of player depends, in a
just sense, upon the scorer, there should
be an uniformity of scoring among the
official men, at least. The difference
betW cen hit and an error often lies
solely with the scorer, and numberless
cases occurred in the Twin Cities, last
year, where one scorer credited bats
man with hit on hard infield drive,
while another scored an error to the
fielder for failure to handle the ball.
Where so much is left to the Judgment
OF the scorers, a system of rules should
be adopted for their guidance. While
the scorer cannot affect the result of
game, the records. of the players are
very largely in his hands and the mat
ter becomes very important one
Last year, for example, stolen
bases were credited, in the
different league towns, on a widely
different basis. In Des MOineS, for eX-
ample, if runner reached second base
under any circumstances except from
palpable error, such as dropped fly, or
from being batted from first to second,
he was credited with a stolen base, the
result being to run up the record of the
Des MoineS players for base stealing.
At home they were all sprint runners.
from the records. but when they played
abroad marked difference was noted.
1t was also remarked that in Minneap-
oils and st. Paul, and especially for the
home teams, the scoring of errors was
much more strict and rigid than in other
league cities. All of this would, or
might be avoided by
UNIFORM SYSTEM
of scoring. To make this necessity more
apparent, 1t may be said that favOritism
can play a large part in helping out
record. A scorer may, in the claim of
using his Judgment, be very partial to
u,
or eXempting him from errors when in
the field. At Minneapolis last season,
where many games were scored by
four scorers, there were times when the
official scorer made decision on a play,
against the Judgment of all the other
scorers; yet his individual opinion went
into the records, though probably
wrong. Presumably the official scorer
is selected with due regard to his judg-
ment, impartfality and ability, but the
presumption, Judging from last years
work, is a wild one. Members of the
st. Paul and Minneapolis teams fire.
9uently complained OF the records given
them while abroad. and other teams
doubtless complained IN similar way
of their treatment mere. While, for eX-
ample, there is no doubt that Elmer
Foster fairly led for the GLOBES silver
bat, there is equally little doubt that he
was given the benefit of every close call.
1t was supposed Crooks was his closest
competitor, and Crooks voice and man
nerisms had made him unpopular else
where than i'll st. Paul, the result being
that he ''got the worst" of the
scoring; it proved, however, that
Kreig was next to Foster and would,
under different circumstances, have
made a close fight for the prize.
Minneapolis it was patent TO all observ-
erS that Minneapolis did not desire to
win the games and give Milwaukee the
pennant over Oshkosh, as the latter was
evidently the superior team; while it
was also patent that Lovett was WON
derfully wild every time Foster came to
bat. This is not to detract from FOs-
ter's batting ability, which is not ques-
tioned-but for his tantrums he would
have had still higher record-it is
merely to illustrate the Importance of
correct and systematic scoring in its re-
latiOn to records.
EASTERN SCORERS
have had meeting and adopted the fol-
lowing rules:
1. The first item in the tabulated
score, after the players name and posi-
ton, shall be the number of times he
has been at bat during the game. Anv
time or times the player has been sent
to base on balls or by being hit by
pitched ball, or by the pitchers illegal
delivery, shall not be included in this
column.
2. In the second column shall be
scored the number of runs made by each
player.
8. In the third column shall be scored
the base hits made by each player. A
base hit shall be scored in the following
cases:
(a) When the ball from the bat strikes
the ground between the foul lines and
out of reach of the fielders.
(b) When hit is partially or wholly
stopped by fielder in motion, but such
player cannot recover himself in time to
handle the ball before the batSman
reaches first base.
(c) When the ball is hit so sharply to
an infelder that he cannot handle it in
time to put out man. In case of doubt
over this class of hits, score base hit
and exempt the fielder from the charge
of an error.
(d) When ball is hit so slowly toward
a fielder that he cannot handle it in
time to put out man.
(e) When batSman reaches first base
by reason of a base-runner having been
hit by batted ball.
BASE-RUNNING.
4. In the fourth column the bases
stolen by each player shall be scOreds
A stolen base shall be scored:
(al When the runner makes a "clean"
steal.
co. When he gains a base on a wild
throw which has been induced by his
attempt to steal.
(cl When he gains base on a muff
OF a throw induced by his attempt to
steal.
(d) When he starts to gain a base be.