In the game of baseball, everything even so remotely connected with the game is of interest to its avid fans. Statistics especially are given prominence in baseball play. This fact is confirmed by its history. It’s worthwhile to study why baseball scoring has become so attractive.

The story begins in 1800s, the humble beginnings of the sport. During those times, play by play score keeping became a practice maintained until present day. Fans will tell you that score keeping will keep you occupied throughout a game and give you the feeling that you are a part of the game itself. Moreover, in the future, you will find the baseball scores you have kept of the games you watched quite valuable. Most of all, it’s entertaining and fascinating.

Every game has an official score keeper but a lot of enthusiasts engage in scoring for fun. The former keeps track of every detail of a game whereas the latter may not go for all the details in it. Baseball scores are done using some abbreviations (left and above - click for larger image) but there are no set rules about it. A lot of symbols, numbers and letters are utilized for this purpose. Modifications could be done to the formats and score sheets (below, left), but the most important thing is to maintain the accuracy of baseball scores so kept.

The internet is a good starting place for all your needs in baseball. It has step by step tutorials as well as downloadable instructions to initiate the novice. Facilities are available for authorized scorers to buy score cards online. Novices, too, can download score cards for baseball scores free of charge from several sites. You may find it challenging to learn the short forms and jargon employed in baseball scoring.

Normally, 2 score cards are utilized for a game — one for the visiting team and another for the home team. Separate spaces are earmarked for game information, game totals and player information on these score cards. All runs, hits, steals and outs including pitches are recorded on these score sheets (left, click for larger image).

Some people believe that baseball scoring is rapidly losing its mystique due to the introduction of sophisticated electronic scoreboards at pro games. But the true baseball fanatics will tell you that there is no better way to get involved in watching — and enjoying — the game than scoring a baseball game whether or not you are at the game in person or watching on TV.