scorekeepers question

[softballmom]

I was the scorekeeper for our local travel team. The manager of our 9 year old daughter's travel team asked that I consult with him before I marked any hits or errors for our team. After our first game I had an error marked against his daughter at 3rd base for making a wide throw to first base which pulled the first basemans foot off the bag resulting in a safe runner at first.
Our manager insisted that it was not his daughters throwing error but the first basemans error for pulling her foot off the bag.
He told me not to mark any errors "just to be fair"
I went ahead and marked the E-5 error. After that I was asked to either consult with the manager on every play or resign from score keeping.
I resigned.
I feel it is unethical for a manager to request this from a scorkeeper. It seems as though he is trying to cover his own daughters mistakes at the expense of the firstbaseman.
Was I wrong?

[mcrowder]

Call em like you see em. I would have quit too.

[FUBLUE]

See that a lot, especially at older levels where coach is trying to get daughter/star player a look from colleges. I've seen dropped fly balls called hits, fielders choice called a hit, walks called a hit, dropped third strikes called successful bunts, etc. All in the name of stats.

Also have seen earned runs called un-earned runs to keep ERA's down.

You called it like you saw it.

I would have resigned right with you.

Welcome

And its 9 year olds for crying out loud!

[FUBLUE]

Another thing, as an educator, the score book can be a powerful recording tool...if there are a lot of E-5's, then F5 is doing something wrong (bad throw, not fielding, etc) so we can go back a correct that. IF we "cook the books" then no one will learn, but daughter will look really good on paper.

Last night had a 14U team. Coach kept telling catcher to throw through to second even if no one was there. Catcher made great throws all night, would have gunned at least 6 runners down if someone would have caught the ball. Coach marked it correctly in the book, and guess what they are working on tonight in practice? YEP!

[softballmom]

I agree with you totally!
How can a problem be corrected if we do not look at it objectively.

I have been my 9 year old coach during rec ball for the past 6 years and I have always used stats to help me discover what we needed to work on at the next practice. I thought that I would be doing that when I signed on to be the scorekeeper for this team. Now it seems all about making one player look good above all others.
My biggest question is
Is it ethical for a manager to request that a scorekeeper consult on every play? And have the ability to overrule a mark against a player?

I feel for ya. Resigning was the smart thing to do. I would have done the same. But a parting shot would have been nice, i.e., use the scorebook page for toilet paper, coach, see ya!

[chuck chopper]

Dear Mom. Get back in there & tell him NO. Objectivity is the key here. I'm with you if you really want to quit, but I would rather you kept your volunteer job just put him in his place.

[mcrowder]

It is not ethical for the manager to have any input on the way a game is scored at all. Period end of statement.

[TexBlue]

Originally posted by softballmom

I have been my 9 year old coach during rec ball for the past 6 years ..........

If I'm reading this right, are we talking about a phenom? Did she really start at 3 years old?

[softballmom]

I am afraid that this manager really did not give me much choice.

He told me that either I consult with him on every play or I could not keep score for the team.

I chose to bow out, however my parting shot is that I sat there with my own personal scorebook and kept score for the very next game.
I will be recording stats just to compare with what he shows since now he has to keep the score for himself.
I am sure he will find another parent willing to comply with his demands.

This is just the beginning of our tournament season and I am very disillussioned by the whole situation.
The biggest kicker is that this manager is also the co-president of our league's board of directors so I don't feel comfortable writing a letter to the board.

[softballmom]

Sorry, she will be 10 in August and she started T Ball at 4.

[whistleone]

Originally posted by softballmom
IAfter that I was asked to either consult with the manager on every play or resign from score keeping.

You certainly did the right thing. Another way to fix the problem is to politely hand the coach the scorebook and say "You keep the book and consult with yourself."