How to Keep Score at a Baseball Game
The complete beginner's guide — what each symbol means, how to mark every play, and why scorekeeping turns a baseball game into something you can hold in your hands long after it's over.
Keeping score at a baseball game is one of the few things in modern life that requires nothing more than a pencil and attention. You don't need to understand advanced analytics. You don't need to know the rules in detail. You just need to watch — really watch — and write down what happens. By the end of the game, you have a record of something that actually occurred: nine innings, however many at-bats, a complete account of that particular afternoon.
That's what a scorecard is. Not a stat sheet, not a summary — a document of a real thing that happened. This guide teaches you how to make one.
What you need
A scorecard (pick one up at the ballpark — they're usually free or a dollar, sometimes included with a program), a pencil, and a lineup. Most ballparks announce the lineups on the scoreboard before the game; you can also grab a program. That's it.
Tip: Start with a pencil, not a pen. You will make mistakes. Pencils erase. Once you've kept score for a few games, you'll develop your own shorthand and preferences — that's completely normal. Scorekeeping is personal.
Understanding the scorecard layout
A baseball scorecard is a grid. Each row represents a player in the batting order — nine batters per team. Each column represents an inning. Where a row and column intersect is a small box, and that box is where you record everything that happened to that batter in that inning.
Inside most boxes, you'll see a small diamond. That diamond represents the bases: home plate at the bottom, first base on the right, second at the top, third on the left. You shade in the portion of the diamond that each runner reaches. If a batter singles and stops at first, shade the line from home to first. If they score, shade the whole diamond.
The numbers: who plays where
Each fielding position has a number. You'll use these to record outs. Every fielder in baseball is numbered the same way:
| Number | Position |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pitcher |
| 2 | Catcher |
| 3 | First baseman |
| 4 | Second baseman |
| 5 | Third baseman |
| 6 | Shortstop |
| 7 | Left fielder |
| 8 | Center fielder |
| 9 | Right fielder |
To record a ground out to the shortstop (who throws to first for the out), you write 6-3. A double play started by the shortstop, through second base, to first? 6-4-3. A flyout to center field? Just 8. A strikeout where the catcher has to throw to first because he didn't catch it cleanly? 2-3.
The symbols: what happened at the plate
These are the standard abbreviations. Different scorekeepers have small variations — these are the most widely used:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1B | Single |
| 2B | Double |
| 3B | Triple |
| HR | Home run |
| BB | Walk (base on balls) |
| IBB | Intentional walk |
| HBP | Hit by pitch |
| K | Strikeout (swinging) |
| K (backwards) | Strikeout looking (called strike three) |
| E | Error (add the fielder number: E6 = error by shortstop) |
| FC | Fielder's choice |
| SAC | Sacrifice bunt |
| SF | Sacrifice fly |
| DP | Double play |
| SB | Stolen base |
| CS | Caught stealing |
| WP | Wild pitch |
| PB | Passed ball |
| BK | Balk |
Recording a full at-bat, step by step
Example 1: A strikeout looking
The batter takes three pitches. The third is called strike three. Write a backwards K (or just "KL" if you prefer) in the box. That's it. The batter made no contact — there's no fielder number because no fielder touched the ball.
Example 2: A ground ball double play
Runner on first. Batter hits a ground ball to the third baseman, who throws to second, who throws to first: a 5-4-3 double play. Write "5-4-3 DP" in the batter's box. Note in the appropriate row that the baserunner was retired at second (put an "X" or mark their diamond with "out at 2B").
Example 3: A home run
Batter hits a home run. Write "HR" in the box and shade in the entire diamond — the batter circles all the bases and scores. Write a circled number in the corner of the box to indicate the run scored (or count runs in the inning column). If runners were on base, shade their diamonds too, and note the RBI count.
Example 4: A stolen base
Runner on first. The pitcher delivers, the runner breaks for second, and the catcher's throw is late. Write "SB" in the margin of the current at-bat (the batter is still up) or annotate the baserunner's row. Shade the base line from first to second in the runner's diamond.
The most important thing: You don't need to catch everything in your first game. It happens fast. Focus on recording who made the last out and what the scoring was. The rest gets easier with practice. Most experienced scorekeepers still use their own personal shorthand — there's no official wrong answer as long as you can read your own notes.
Marking pitching changes
When the manager goes to the mound and brings in a new pitcher, draw a vertical line in the current column at the point where the change happened. Write the new pitcher's name above the line (or in the margin). That way you can see exactly who was pitching for each at-bat — useful when you're trying to figure out who gets credit for the win or loss.
Tracking the score and runs
Most scorecards have a column at the right end of each row for totaling hits, RBIs, and runs. Some have a row at the bottom of each inning column for the cumulative score. After each inning, add up what each team scored and update the running score. By the end of the game you should be able to reconstruct the box score from your scorecard alone — that's the test of whether you kept it correctly.
Why keep score?
When you keep score, the game changes. You can't check your phone between pitches — there's always something to watch, because what happens on every pitch could matter for what you need to write. Walks matter. Wild pitches matter. The shift matters. The scorecard teaches you to see a baseball game as a series of decisions and consequences, not just a string of highlights.
The other thing is: you end up with a record. My father kept score at Braves games in the 1970s. The scorecards he has from those games are the closest thing to time travel I know — not just what happened, but where he sat, who was pitching, what the weather was like in August in Atlanta. A scorecard is a keepsake whether you intend it to be or not. The game you kept score at in 1988 is still in the scorebook. The one from last Tuesday is already there too.
Getting a pre-kept scorecard from a historic game
If you want to see what a complete scorecard looks like — or if there's a game you want to relive without having been there — Field & Ink rebuilds historic MLB scorecards from official game records. Any game from the last 100 years, set in real handwriting, available as a print-ready digital file. The 2016 Cubs World Series. The 1991 Twins. The 2001 Diamondbacks. The scorecard you would have kept, if you'd been there.
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