Official scorer
Judgment calls are primarily made about errors, unearned runs, fielder's choice, the value of hits in certain situations, and wild pitches, all of which are included in the record compiled.
Newspaper writers initially performed this function in the early days of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Controversies related to perceived bias or errors in scoring have led to questions about important baseball records, including several no-hitters and Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak of 1941.
By 1979, many major newspapers decided to ban their writers from scoring baseball games due to conflict-of-interest concerns, and in 1980 MLB began to hire independent official scorers.
[3]Baseball writer-scorers usually worked at the games played at the home stadium of the team which they covered for their newspaper.
Because of this affiliation, the official scorer was often presumed by the baseball players and managers to favor the home team when making the required judgment calls during the course of a game.
Some historians claim that Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game hitting streak in 1941 was made possible by several generous rulings at Yankee Stadium.
[2][5] Infielder Davey Johnson said, "I've been involved in five or six no-hit games, and all of them were suspected of being helped by hometown scoring.
In that game, St. Louis pitcher Bob Forsch was pitching a no-hitter in the 8th inning against Philadelphia when a hard ground ball hit into the hole between shortstop and third was narrowly missed by third baseman Ken Reitz.
The official scorer Neal Russo (who was a writer for a local newspaper) judged the play to be an error rather than a hit, and Forsch went on to pitch the first no-hitter of the 1978 season.
Many players also have monetary incentives written in their contracts which are based on statistical measurements, and official scorers have the option to reverse a scoring decision within 24 hours of the conclusion of a game.
Angry about an error he had received in the game, Jerry "cursed [Neal] thoroughly and imaginatively, and told him, 'Never talk to me again.'"
[5] In the early days of baseball, a disagreement over a scoring decision occasionally led to physical altercations between the player and the writer.
[2] The pressure and the perceived conflict of interest faced by the baseball writers who scored games for MLB eventually led many major newspapers to end the practice for their employees.
In 1992 the Seattle Mariner players signed a petition to have their official scorer replaced, and in 2001 the management of the Boston Red Sox ordered that a rookie scorer not be allowed to score another game after pitcher Hideo Nomo lost a no-hitter on a close play in right field that was ruled a hit rather than an error.
Some minor league scorers have a history or connection with the team, including former players, former coaches, and local writers.
[17] Baseball players, managers, and writers have speculated about bias by the official scorer for decades, but this subject has been objectively studied only recently.
[2] More recently, there have been suggestions to move the official scorer out of the press box and closer to the field behind the plate to get the best view of the game.
[21] The rules of baseball require that the official scorer views the game only from the press box, for two basic reasons.
When a judgment call is made, the official scorer is obligated to immediately communicate that decision to the media in the press box and to the broadcasters, usually through a microphone.
Rather, errors are charged when the defense attempts to make a logical play against the offense, but fails to record an out or prevent an advance due to a mechanical misplay.
Other common situations requiring a judgment call include unintentionally dropped foul balls that allow the batter to continue his at-bat, and poor throws to the next base when a runner attempts to advance.
[26] When reconstructing an inning without errors or passed balls: Most of the above rules are straightforward, but some judgment is required by the official scorer when a baserunner advances due to a defensive lapse and later scores.
Since the next batter was put out, the official scorer must decide based on the hit, the speed of the baserunner, and the positioning of the defense whether the runner would have been able to score from second in the reconstruction of the inning without the error.
[27] Fielder's choice is primarily discussed in rules 10.05 and 10.06, and it generally occurs when it is judged that a batter-runner would have been put out had the defense chosen to do so.
In these situations, the official scorer is required to determine whether the batter-runner would have safely reached first base if the defense made an ordinary effort to put him out.
If the defense could not be reasonably expected to make the play, the batter is credited with a hit, otherwise he is ruled to have reached by fielder's choice.
[28] In some cases the official scorer is not given the discretion to decide between awarding a hit to the batter or ruling that he safely reached first base by fielder's choice.
When a defensive player has the ball and can end the play by preventing further advance, but fails to do so because of a mental mistake (not an error) and a runner subsequently scores, the official scorer must decide whether to credit the batter with a run batted in (RBI).
[32] When a batter attempts a sacrifice bunt and the resulting bunt is so well-placed that he safely reaches first base, the official scorer may elect to credit the batter with a hit instead of a sacrifice if there is no error on the play and an ordinary effort by the defense would not have recorded an out.
