Evening journal., 1909-02-11
SPORTING
SCORING THE
--=su ~aaRr
BASEBALL GAME
Some Things That Should be
Settled Regarding the
Rules

Under the heading OF Get Together
on Rules the Washington star prints
q timely article on scoring baseball.
II says:
Il looks very much as though some
uniform system OF scoring would be
adopted this season. The new scheme.
ii taken up seriously, win do away
with tho many differences OF opinion
among the baseball fans which have
so often threatened TO disrupt friend
ships OF years standing. As things
now stand with the Interpretation of
the rules It Is up to the sweet Will
of the scribes, according TO tho way
they see the play Of their own inter-
probation Of the rules. II is the in
tention of the newly formed Scorers
Association to agree on the one view
point and have each play scored ac-
cordingly.
This general agreement will, Of
course. only apply to the interpreta-
ton Of the rule. and will have nothing
TO do with the sizing up Of the play
itself
Fortunately for the game, there win
continue TO exist the same discrepan-
cies as to whether this or that play
was a hit" or an error" Some will
still be put in one column or the other
according 10 the way the scorer saw
il. Much trouble will be avoided, how
ever. by the fact that all rules Will be
understood the same way, and that
is where most Of the trouble exists at
the present time.
As one Of the committee looking to-
ward uniformity I'm scoring, this same
Jack Ryder has gone into the subject
pretty thoroughly, and recently went so
far as TO divide up the various points
which might be open for discussion.
One OF these points relates to the
scoring OF a "sacrifce hit"
The rule on this point Is very plain
and yet there arc few scorers who dc
not give a batter a sacrifice u-har an
error IS made on his attempt and he
reaches first base in safety on account
OF the misplay. Section Of rule 81
reads:
"A sacrifice hit shall be credited tc
the batsman who. when no one is out
or when but one man Is out. advances
p runner base by a bunt hit. which
results IN the batsman being put out
before reaching first or would so result
n handled without error. A sacrifice
man who. when no one is out or when
but one man is out. hits a fly hall
that is caught, but results in a run
being scored
Ryder contends that according 10 this
rule a player must be credited with q
sacrifice If his hunt is fumbled or II a
wild throw is made, enabling him &c
reach first base in safety, for il would
be manifestly unfair TO deprive hin
of credit for his performance because
one Of the enemy has made an error OF
the play. In all cases where an erro'
Is made In handling an attempted sac
rince the fielder Is charged with tn
msplay m the error column, end tn
batter IS credited with sacrifice ant
exempted from a time at bat.
Still another question brought up b,
The members of the rules committee
Of the new Scorers Association, OF
which there is much diversity OF opin
ion, is in the case where a batter hunts
but the fielder instead Of trying T.
catch him at first attempts TO fore
another base runner and fails in tn
attempt. though no error Is made OF
the play.
Many scorers do the batter a grea
injustice by scoring this play as