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The Complete Baseball Scorekeeping Handbook, Revised and Updated Edition
With the aim of providing anyone interested in baseball scorekeeping everything he or she needs to perform the task, this book contains a thorough and comprehensive manual on keeping a scorecard, together with a detailed analysis of each of the numerous, and often complex, official rules governing scorekeeping in baseball (many of which were revised or modified in 2007), as well as scorekeeping issues outside of MLB's rulebook. Myriad examples are given (many drawn from significant and well-known major league games throughout the history of baseball as well as a number of examples drawn from popular culture) of how baseball's scorekeeping rules are applied and dealt with in both routine situations as well as the most difficult and convoluted scenarios. Revised and updated to reflect recent changes to the MLB rulebook, this book is very readable and perfectly accessible to a broad audience.
265 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 24, 2015
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 9, 2025
It feels odd to give a book like this a five star rating. It's not a novel, so there's no plot or characters or other trappings to get emotionally or intellectually invested in. It doesn't do the things I usually want from my non-fiction books, which is provide actionable advice or intellectually stimulating ideas. But a book about the rules of baseball scorekeeping doesn't need any of that.
This book does exactly what it needs to do and what I wanted it to do. Each sentence of the Major League Baseball rules regarding scorekeeping is presented verbatim then broken down to make it understandable by anyone. Wirkmaa provides excellent examples to illustrate each rule's application. He cross references rules. His explanations always add much needed context and insight into the written rules.
I learned so much about baseball scorekeeping from this book. I feel way more confident in my scorekeeping ability, with the knowledge to back up everything I do.
And Wirkmaa's writing style strikes the right balance between straightforwardness and dry humor. It's easy to chuckle at his incredulity regarding some rules, especially the ones that seemingly contradict each other. For a book about a rule book, I was never bored, and was actually entertained most of the time. It is, of course, a niche topic, so your mileage may vary.
If you do any baseball scorekeeping, you should read this insightful and entertaining book. Even if you just watch a lot of baseball and want to understand some of the things you see, you can't go wrong reading this book.
This book does exactly what it needs to do and what I wanted it to do. Each sentence of the Major League Baseball rules regarding scorekeeping is presented verbatim then broken down to make it understandable by anyone. Wirkmaa provides excellent examples to illustrate each rule's application. He cross references rules. His explanations always add much needed context and insight into the written rules.
I learned so much about baseball scorekeeping from this book. I feel way more confident in my scorekeeping ability, with the knowledge to back up everything I do.
And Wirkmaa's writing style strikes the right balance between straightforwardness and dry humor. It's easy to chuckle at his incredulity regarding some rules, especially the ones that seemingly contradict each other. For a book about a rule book, I was never bored, and was actually entertained most of the time. It is, of course, a niche topic, so your mileage may vary.
If you do any baseball scorekeeping, you should read this insightful and entertaining book. Even if you just watch a lot of baseball and want to understand some of the things you see, you can't go wrong reading this book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review