Who Is Keeping Score of the Scorekeepers

I don't pretend to know the slightest little minutiae about official scoring over the first 100 or so years of baseball. But I can tell you that play was definitely an error 10 years ago. Wouldn't have been the slightest hesitation. These are the playoffs for Pete's sake; it's the best of the best of the best.

It was ruled a hit tonight without discussion. Nobody even batted an eye. Not the play-by-play shill for Boston. Not Martinez who is awful. Not Ron Darling who I actually think does a really good job.

And that was hardly the first, last, or worst such call I've seen this year (just the most recent).

Almost every day during the season, you would see an error turned into a hit by some generous scorekeeper. It's almost like degree of difficulty no longer comes into play except in the most blatant of circumstances.

If it's the home team, the scorer doesn't want to hang an error on the guy. If it's the away team, the scorer wants the hometown hero to get a hit. Somewhere, the pitcher gets lost in the shuffle.

Nor was this year any different than the last several.

So it stands to reason that such drastic changes in the interpretation of scoring rules have been happening throughout baseball's evolution.

And how do we account for this?

Furthermore, the more you consider the subect, the more changes come to mind. And the harder they are to quantify.

The reality is the game changes too much and too quickly to place such sacred importance on the record book. It is nothing more than proof of the best players of their generations.

Anything else is pure conjecture.

The only real threat is from an individual player with an unfair, unnatural advantage over his contemporaries.

Say what you want about Barry, but, if you say he had that, you are lying. To yourself and to anyone misguided enough to listen.

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