[greymule]

but you don't (and never did) just write forceplay in the scorebook.

In the most common scorebooks of the 1950s (I still have them), if Baker hit a ground ball and F6 threw to F4 to force Abel at 2B, the instructive example was to write "6-4f" in Baker's box. You put a circled 1 or 2 or 3 (depending on which out it was) in Baker's box, usually close to 2B on the little diamond. For that play, you did not write FC anywhere.

It may or may not be the custom now, but in looking through the old books, "fielder's choice" was used to explain a BR reaching first without getting a hit, on a play that didn't produce an out or an error. Example: "Richardson safe on a fielder's choice as Kasko tried for the force at second but Boyer just beat the throw." No error, no hit, no out. BR reached on a fielder's choice.

Nowhere is a simple force play described as a fielder's choice.

I suspect that the term "fielder's choice" is commonly applied erroneously.

"Grounded into a force play" denotes an out. "Hit into a fielder's choice" does not necessarily mean the defense got an out.

The OBR book is little help. Apparently the term "fielder's choice" has several meanings.

In fact, the term "force play" is obviously a choice since the batter isn't the one out. It's more accurate because it's more specific—it signifies an out, where "fielder's choice" does not.



[Edited by greymule on Jun 10th, 2004 at 12:59 AM]