How is this play scored?

[John Robertson]

Call me pedantic and detail-oriented, but I do care how a baseball game is scored. (Part of baseball's enduring appeal is the richness and accuracy of its statistics. This has been quite apparent to me since the age of seven.) Obviously, some people disagree. Nevertheless, I believe as officials we ought to assist the scorekeeper in keeping an accurate account of the game. It has nothing to do with whether a scorekeeper likes me or not. Most of the scorekeepers I deal with are not skilled statisticians, so they generally appreciate it when I can offer a little bit of assistance on how to record unusual plays. This has never caused a problem; in fact my gesture is generally appreciated. The usual response I get is "Thank you!"

[Edited by John Robertson on Jun 3rd, 2005 at 04:25 PM]