What do you keep on your line-up cards?

[jdmara]

High school baseball is starting to get into its final weeks here in Iowa and I had an interesting discussion with some of the veteran umpires around the area the other day. We were discussing our surprise that some umpires don't "take" line-up cards for non-varsity games (ie JV or Sophomore games). It seems like everyone within our association takes line-up cards but when we get partnered up (one way or another) with a non-association member it's a crap-shoot whether they take a card. We obviously think a card should always be taken in high school baseball.

The topic was then discussed about what some partners include on their card. I include (I know I'll forget some things I do): Substitutions (player uniform number with position), Positional Changes, Charged Conferences, Courtesy Runners, Warnings...can't think of anything else...The biggest discussion was that some are recording the inning the changes are made. For instance, if the F4 came into pitch during the second inning the scorecard would look as such: 4/(1/2). I don't record the inning but it made me think about whether I should, I don't think so though.

One thing I do that the other umpires liked was creating a chart for courtesy runners instead of clogging up the line-up card. I usually find a space on the bottom of the card and make a two row chart. Each row represents F1 or F2. Then I track the runner and inning on the respective row (IE #14 in the 3rd inning would be: 14/3).

What do you all track on your card?

-Josh