Baseball is a team sport developed in North America and played internationally--with professional leagues existing in the United States, Europe and Asia. Baseball traditionally has been a statistics-dominated pastime for fans in the United States, particularly those of Major League Baseball. The official scorer for each game is charged with determining the nature of plays during a game, and decisions made by the official scorer affect a game's statistical outcomes while having no effect on the actual outcome.
Scorer Logistics
The official scorer must view the game from an ideal vantage point that affords a clear view of the entire field. In Major League Baseball, the official scorer is required to watch the game from a press box, and must make judgment calls concerning questionable plays after they have happened. However, the official scorer has 24 hours after the game has been completed to reviews calls and make final judgments.
Scorer Report
The official scorer is required to submit a report at the conclusion of each game that summarizes every statistical category tracked for batters, fielders, base runners and pitchers. There are numerous individual and team statistics that the individual scorer must track each game, including hits, walks, strikeouts, innings pitched, sacrifice flies and bunts, runs scores, stolen bases and errors made.
Errors
When a fielder misplays a ball put into play by a batter, baseball rules state that the official scorer must determine whether the fielder committed an error, or whether the play was too difficult to be made under normal circumstances. This determination, which is a judgment call, affects both the batter and the pitcher; if a batter reaches base on an error, the batter is not credited with a hit. If the batter ends up scoring, the pitcher is not charged with having given up a run. These determinations affect the batting average for the batter and the earned run average of the pitcher.
Wild Pitch
If a runner is on base for the batting team and a pitch gets by the catcher, thus allowing the base runner to advance to the next base, official rules state that the scorer must determine if the catcher or pitcher was at fault for the error. If the scorer determines that the catcher should have caught the ball, the play is scored as a passed ball. If the scorer determines that the pitch was not reasonably playable for the catcher, the play is scored as a wild pitch.
Stolen Base
When a base runner advances to the next base during a pitch that is not put into play by the batter, and the catcher does not make an attempt to throw the runner out, the official scorer must determine the play's status. If the official scorer determines that the catcher chose not to make a play because he was not interested in the out, this is scored a catcher's indifference, and a stolen base is not awarded to the runner. However, if the scorer determines that the catcher did not make a play because he gave up on any chance to throw the runner out, then the scorer must rule the play as a stolen base.
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