How to Create a Scorecard for Baseball

Keeping score at a baseball game is one of the best ways to focus on the intricacies of the game. A properly filled in scorecard tells the complete story of a ballgame, from each out to every last defensive replacement, pinch hitter and pitching substitution. Although pads of pre-made scorecards can be bought, it is entirely possible to create your own scorecards. When making your own scorecards, you get to decide what details to include.

Things You'll Need

  • Ruler
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Instructions

    • 1

      Draw a line across a sheet of paper about an inch and a half from the top. Create headings for the date, game (which two teams are playing), the field and the weather above this line. You can also keep track of umpires, attendance and time of game in this area.

    • 2

      Draw a line across the middle of the paper. You will keep track of the away team above this line and the home team below this line.

    • 3

      Draw a third line about an inch and a half from the bottom of the paper. The line score will go in this area.

    • 4

      Return to the visitor section of your scorecard and draw ten lines from the left edge of the paper to the right. The names of the batters and the outcomes of their at bats will be written here. The bottom line is for inning-by-inning totals. Leave enough room around these lines to indicate a pinch hitter or two in this section. You should also leave about a quarter of this boxed-in area empty so you can keep track of the away pitchers as well. Repeat this for the home section of your scorecard.

    • 5

      Draw 11 vertical lines that cut each of the visitor batter lines that you have drawn into boxes. The first box on the left should be long enough for you to write the name of the batter, his uniform number and his position. Every other box should be square and big enough to indicate the outcome of an at bat. Label each section at the very top of this grid (batter name, then one though 10). Repeat this for the home section of your scorecard.

    • 6

      Create another grid beneath the visitor batting lines for the pitching statistics. This grid should be six boxes deep and 11 boxes wide. These boxes can be thinner than the batting boxes, because you won't need extra room for pinch hitters and the like. Label the grid in the top boxes from left to right: "Pitcher name," "W/L/S" (win/loss/save), "IP" (innings pitched), "H" (hits), "R" (runs), "ER" (earned runs), "BB" (base on balls), "SO" (strikeouts) "HB" (hit by pitch), "BK" (bulk) and "TBF" (total batters faced). Make a second pitching grid in the home section of your scorecard.

    • 7

      Draw a small line score gird at the bottom of your paper. This grid should be two boxes high and 12 boxes long. Label this grid in the top boxes one through 9, then "R" (runs), "H" (hits) and "E" (errors).