One of the things I love about attending ball games is that you’ll never know what you’ll see that day.  Will it be an Indians win?  Will there be something monumental and historic that takes place?  Or will it just be a complete dumpster fire?  I’ve attended hundreds of baseball games in my lifetime, but I’ve never been present for a no-hitter.  I managed to nab a foul ball a few years ago (it literally almost fell into my lap), but there are people that attend games their whole lives and never even come close.  For as much whining as I’ve done about missing out on a no-hitter to date, I was present for Asdrubal Cabrera’s unassisted triple play; a feat that was much more rare than a no-hitter (and I was actually in my seat and not in the bathroom).  In some ways, it’s part of the draw – will you be a physical witness to something that will be memorialized for years, if not decades?

So on Thursday afternoon, as we baked in the sun, my friend and I happened to notice that Michael Brantley and Asdrubal Cabrera were both just one hit away from the cycle.  After Brantley missed out, we started to joke about how great it would be to see Cabrera pull it off.  Then wouldn’t you know it – he lined the ball down into the right field corner, just out of view from our seats in right-center.  I had no idea what was taking place in the corner, but I could see Cabrera chugging around the bases and making the turn for third base.  “Holy crap,” my brain says to itself, “this could be it…I could be witnessing the Indians first cycle since Travis Hafner in 2006.”  As he slid safely into third, I was losing my mind (to put it lightly); the scoreboard even flashed a little message about Cabrera hitting for the cycle.  After we sat back down (and calmed down some) everyone was buzzing about how exciting it was to be present for something like this.  Before we even had a minute to relax and enjoy our moment, we saw that it had been ruled a double.  A replay of the play showed the bobbling and the bumbling that took place in the right field corner.  Even though the call by the official scorekeeper was likely the right one, it was a tough pill to swallow.  Not only did I miss the mishandling of the play, but I was completely convinced that I’d just seen a player hit for the cycle.  It was like Santa brought you toys, let you open them, then took them all away and gave them to the kids down the street.

The official scorekeeper for yesterday’s game was Sheldon Ocker, formerly of the Akron Beacon Journal, making his scorekeeping debut.  At first I was really shocked to hear this; it used to be customary for beat writers to serve as the official scorekeepers, but I thought it had been eliminated.  (I didn’t realize at the time that Ocker was no longer writing).  The idea of beat writers as scorekeepers seemed like a policy that could cause all kinds of problems and conflicts of interest.  On one hand, it could be considered a conflict of interest for the writer, who is supposed to be covering the team as an unbiased reporter.  (Although to be fair, the scorekeeping gig requires a great lack of bias as well).  I’ve also seen the opinion that it could cause problems for beat writers, in the sense that players angry about a scoring decision could confront them later in the locker room, when they are there in a writer’s capacity.  There do seem to be some former beat writers like Ocker around; in this story, it features a former San Francisco Chronicle writer that is now an official scorer.

The scorekeeping process received a few tweaks in the recent collective bargaining agreement.  In the past, players had 72 hours to appeal an official scorekeeping decision, typically through the team’s public relations department.  However, this put the PR department in the middle of a battle they really didn’t want to be waging; so in the new agreement, the players, or their agents, or perhaps someone at a higher level in the baseball operations division of the team, could make the appeal.  According to the article linked in the beginning of this paragraph, this has caused a steep jump in the number of challenges.  Mainly because an agent will be looking out for his client’s ERA, or perhaps his client’s defensive statistics.  It’s almost a thankless job for the scorekeepers, who as of 2012 made just $150 per game (and I doubt that figure has climbed by much).  While that’s still a nice chunk of pocket money, it may not always be worth the hassle and the headache.

Scorekeeping in general is credited to Henry Chadwick in the 1860s, who had switched his focus to baseball after covering cricket.  Because sportswriters had early interest in things like the box score, and the various details of the game, it forged an early connection between writers and scorekeeping.  By 1979 a lot of newspapers had begun to officially ban their writers from working as scorekeepers (although some, like the Washington Post, started the ban as early as 1958).  By 1980, major league baseball turned to hiring independent scorekeepers.  In addition to the above mentioned squabbles between players and writers, and the concerns of conflict of interest, there were other types of controversy connected to official scoring.  At least one man has argued that Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak was the result of a very friendly official scorer at Yankee Stadium.  Since he was a long-time writer, and friends with many of the Yankees player, it raises the question of bias.  Even if his decisions are fair and accurate, the fact that people are still discussing it shows that there was a bit of tension and controversy when it came to writers keeping score.

Cleveland is no different from any of these other cities; it had active beat writers working as official scorers for many years.  One example is long-time beat writer Russ Schneider, who wrote for the Plain Dealer for many years and also worked as an official scorer for 21 years.  During a conversation we had once, Schneider told me that he was lucky enough to be the official scorer for five separate perfect games or no-hitters – Len Barker’s perfect game against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 15, 1981, Dennis Eckersley’s no-hitter against the California Angels on May 30, 1977, Dick Bosman’s no-hitter against the Oakland Athletics on July 19, 1974, Dean Chance’s no hitter (for the Twins, against the Indians) on August 25, 1967, and Sonny Siebert’s no-hitter against the Washington Senators on June 10, 1966.  Schneider also had the opportunity to see two as a writer – Dave Morehead (for the Red Sox) as he no-hit the Indians on September 16, 1965, and Joel Horlen of the Chicago White Sox against the Detroit Tigers on September 10, 1967.  (I would like some of this no-hitter luck too, please)

While my ears did perk up when I heard that Sheldon Ocker was the official scorer last Thursday, Major League Baseball has not made a sudden return to the practice of beat writers as official scorekeepers.  Although with a former writer making his transition to the position, you can see that the connection between sports writing and scorekeeping remains.  As for the Cabrera cycle, I’m still going to be cranky about it for another week or so.  Not even because I necessarily disagree with the call, but just because I felt like for one, perfect second, I saw a player hit for the cycle.  I’m going to have to wait a while longer to check that one off of my bucket list.

 

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