Official Scorer

Stetka is his name, and baseball is his game. Any avid baseball fan knows that Bill Stetka is the publicity director of the Baltimore Orioles. He has held that position since replacing John Maroon, who moved on to become the spokesman for Ripken Baseball. He began his career as a sportswriter with the now-defunct Baltimore News American. Later, while working at Towson University, he became the official scorer at Oriole games. He then joined the Orioles' front office as Maroon's assistant.

Lara Hall's husband, Jay Hood, recently bought her diamonds for her birthday — baseball diamonds, printed on the pages of a vintage scorebook from the 1960s. The book, an unused Houston Colt .45s scorekeeping manual, cost Hood about $5 on eBay. For a scorekeeping fanatic like Hall, it was the perfect present, and she's been using its empty pages to keep track of the Orioles this season. "It's super fancy," said Hall of the book, noting that it has a detailed diagram of the field on the upper-left corner of each page and a row especially for the number of players left on base, an oddity for scorebooks . Many of the book's pages are now marked with a jumble of lines, letters and numbers that might be indecipherable to the average fan. To some, buying a program and tracking the game has become a less essential part of the ballpark experience in this age of smartphones and scrolling scoreboard statistics.

Q. In baseball, how is the official scorer selected and for what period of time? Can his/her decision be overruled?Dan GisterReisterstownA. Before each game, representatives of the home team go through the press box and select the person with the sharpest pencil and best posture to be the official scorer. No, just kidding. Actually, the two oldest sportswriters present arm-wrestle for the honor. No, just kidding again. Really, baseball rules call for the league to select official scorers.

Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo isn't committed to running out the same lineup for every game, with a surplus of outfielders giving him enough options that the look can change almost nightly. Who figured that David Newhan would become a constant? After fighting to make the team as a utility player in spring training, Newhan has relinquished his seat on the bench and started five of the past six games. He started in left field again Friday night for the series opener against the Los Angeles Angels and hit his second homer of the season.

30-30 hindsightOne stolen base. Three news conferences.The New York Mets' Howard Johnson, with a stolen base that was at once the easiest and toughest of his career, Tuesday night became only the second player in baseball history to compile as many as three seasons with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases. Bobby Bonds did it five times."They made me work for it," said Johnson.Not the Pittsburgh Pirates, mind you. The official scorer. Johnson, after doubling, was at second base with Kevin McReynolds on first and two out in the third inning of a 2-1 loss in Pittsburgh.

Dear Mr. Baseball:my understanding that the official scorer cannot charge an error to a fielder for failing to complete a double play. Why?Samuel I. RosenbergBaltimoreDear Samuel I. Rosenberg:Your question suggests that you attend many baseball games and possibly even keep a personal score book. If this is the case, please advise on how to note "Texas leaguer" in scorekeeper's shorthand. Any guidance on "broken-bat dribbler" also would be appreciated.Armed with your question, Mr. Baseball contacted Camden Yards official scorer Bill Stetka, who referred to section 10.14 (c)

Quote: "I told him Ozzie Smith is retired." -- Braves hitting coach Don Baylor when told by the official scorer he'd changed an error to a hit for Chipper Jones on a hard-hit ball Dodgers shortstop Mark Grudzielanek couldn't get his glove on Saturday It's a fact: Weak-hitting Randy Johnson was 2-for-2 against the Mets' Masato Yoshii. The rest of the league's righties are batting .193 against Yoshii.Who's hot: The Pirates' Jason Kendall has a 10-game hitting streak and has raised his average 97 points to .358.

His recent numbers didn't look very glistening -- 3-for-20 and 7-for-36.But after a three-hit, one-walk game last night that included two runs scored and his 36th stolen Orioles notebookbase, which tied him for the American League lead, Brady Anderson just shrugged off the statistics."

DETROIT -- Cal Ripken denied a report in The Washington Post yesterday that Ripken called the official scorer after Wednesday's game to argue about a scoring decision in the sixth inning.According to the Post, Ripken and Brady Anderson called the press box about an hour after the Orioles' 7-6 win in an attempt to get the scorer to award Ripken a hit on a ball he hit to Chicago White Sox third baseman Robin Ventura. Ventura was charged with an error on the play.Ripken hit the ball hard, Ventura moved a step to his right and the ball went past him."

Twice yesterday, Wilson Alvarez's no-hit bid was in jeopardy, both times in the late innings.But the official scorer's ruling preserved it in the seventh and the Chicago White Sox's fleet center fielder, Lance Johnson, did the rest.Johnson was all over the Memorial Stadium outfield, chasing down hard-hit drives down the stretch as the crowd at Memorial Stadium switched allegiance and began rooting for the 21-year-old pitcher to succeed."Johnson kept the ball off the grass. That does a lot for a pitcher's confidence," said Mike Devereaux, his Baltimore Orioles counterpart.

Stetka is his name, and baseball is his game. Any avid baseball fan knows that Bill Stetka is the publicity director of the Baltimore Orioles. He has held that position since replacing John Maroon, who moved on to become the spokesman for Ripken Baseball. He began his career as a sportswriter with the now-defunct Baltimore News American. Later, while working at Towson University, he became the official scorer at Oriole games. He then joined the Orioles' front office as Maroon's assistant.

Quote: "I told him Ozzie Smith is retired." -- Braves hitting coach Don Baylor when told by the official scorer he'd changed an error to a hit for Chipper Jones on a hard-hit ball Dodgers shortstop Mark Grudzielanek couldn't get his glove on Saturday It's a fact: Weak-hitting Randy Johnson was 2-for-2 against the Mets' Masato Yoshii. The rest of the league's righties are batting .193 against Yoshii.Who's hot: The Pirates' Jason Kendall has a 10-game hitting streak and has raised his average 97 points to .358.

DETROIT -- Cal Ripken denied a report in The Washington Post yesterday that Ripken called the official scorer after Wednesday's game to argue about a scoring decision in the sixth inning.According to the Post, Ripken and Brady Anderson called the press box about an hour after the Orioles' 7-6 win in an attempt to get the scorer to award Ripken a hit on a ball he hit to Chicago White Sox third baseman Robin Ventura. Ventura was charged with an error on the play.Ripken hit the ball hard, Ventura moved a step to his right and the ball went past him."

Thirty-four years after the fact, research suggests that perhaps Roger Maris wasn't the lone American League RBIs leader in 1961, after all.The New York Yankees outfielder not only broke Babe Ruth's home run record with 61 that year, but also led in RBIs with 142, one more than the Orioles' Jim Gentile.But Ron Rakowski, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, maintains that Maris mistakenly was credited with an extra RBI July 5 against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium.

Dear Mr. Baseball:my understanding that the official scorer cannot charge an error to a fielder for failing to complete a double play. Why?Samuel I. RosenbergBaltimoreDear Samuel I. Rosenberg:Your question suggests that you attend many baseball games and possibly even keep a personal score book. If this is the case, please advise on how to note "Texas leaguer" in scorekeeper's shorthand. Any guidance on "broken-bat dribbler" also would be appreciated.Armed with your question, Mr. Baseball contacted Camden Yards official scorer Bill Stetka, who referred to section 10.14 (c)

His recent numbers didn't look very glistening -- 3-for-20 and 7-for-36.But after a three-hit, one-walk game last night that included two runs scored and his 36th stolen Orioles notebookbase, which tied him for the American League lead, Brady Anderson just shrugged off the statistics."

Thirty-four years after the fact, research suggests that perhaps Roger Maris wasn't the lone American League RBIs leader in 1961, after all.The New York Yankees outfielder not only broke Babe Ruth's home run record with 61 that year, but also led in RBIs with 142, one more than the Orioles' Jim Gentile.But Ron Rakowski, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, maintains that Maris mistakenly was credited with an extra RBI July 5 against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium.

Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo isn't committed to running out the same lineup for every game, with a surplus of outfielders giving him enough options that the look can change almost nightly. Who figured that David Newhan would become a constant? After fighting to make the team as a utility player in spring training, Newhan has relinquished his seat on the bench and started five of the past six games. He started in left field again last night for the series opener against the Los Angeles Angels and hit his second homer of the season.

Q. In baseball, how is the official scorer selected and for what period of time? Can his/her decision be overruled?Dan GisterReisterstownA. Before each game, representatives of the home team go through the press box and select the person with the sharpest pencil and best posture to be the official scorer. No, just kidding. Actually, the two oldest sportswriters present arm-wrestle for the honor. No, just kidding again. Really, baseball rules call for the league to select official scorers.