Anyone collect Official Scorer Scorecards?

[Bobmc]

Does anyone here collect MLB official scorecards (the official scorecard created by the designated official scorer)?

Saw this one on ebay and it seems quite significant, historically. I don't recall seeing any from earlier decades of the 1900's. Wonder what's out there. Can anyone share? Thank you.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/David-Cone-S...item35c8aef9f9

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

If it's legit then it is a very cool piece of baseball history.


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[doug.goodman]

I find it hard to believe that "the" official scorecard would be sold, and because the auction refers to it as "an" official scorecard, I would bet that this is from one of the regular writers in the press box that day, but I could be wrong.

Still pretty cool.

But not $600 cool.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

I find it hard to believe that "the" official scorecard would be sold, and because the auction refers to it as "an" official scorecard, I would bet that this is from one of the regular writers in the press box that day, but I could be wrong.

Still pretty cool.

But not $600 cool.

I agree with all of this Doug, FWIW.

[mcgwirecom]

Yeah I would think the "official" scorers scorecard would be kept as a matter of record and never sold. But there are other people who regularly score the games. A lot of the broadcasters do it. I was able to purchase a bunch from Pittsburgh Broadcaster Lanny Frattare. He did the scorecards for every game from 1976 to 2008. Although not the "official" scorer of the game, his scorecards were pretty cool to have as he included loads of notes to use in the game.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by mcgwirecom

...I was able to purchase a bunch from Pittsburgh Broadcaster Lanny Frattare. He did the scorecards for every game from 1976 to 2008. Although not the "official" scorer of the game, his scorecards were pretty cool to have as he included loads of notes to use in the game.

Wow, fantastic. How many did you get? I would love to see those.

Leland's sold a bunch of Ike Kuhn's scored programs & scorecards in the last couple years, I forget who he wrote for, but most included his press pass, and had his stories from the paper about the game stapled inside, sometimes a ticket stub. I got some of those. Very fun to go thru.

[Bobmc]

Ditto that. Would thoroughly enjoy seeing some older, original 'official scorer's scorecards'.
...especially from significant games. Do you suppose most were simply discarded decades ago? Hoping some images might be posted...

[doug.goodman]

Well, because Retrosheet is missing some games, I would bet that they used to be discarded.

I wouldn't be surprised if large collections of them exist with families or friends of the men who did them.

And, I'll bet most beat writers kept theirs.

Doug

[mcgwirecom]

Here is one of Lanny's scoresheets. this one is from Todd Helton's 2nd career game and 2nd career HR. This is just one side of it.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by mcgwirecom

Here is one of Lanny's scoresheets.

That is a thing of beauty, I use colors, too...

[Bobmc]

It's like a work of art...that is special. Thanks for posting it.

[ramram]

I'm a scorebook collector and have some that were the team's official scorebook for home games. Mine are from the late 19th century and early 20th. One question I've always had is - When did they switch to these score cards and start exchanging them prior to the game? Any thoughts?

Rob M.

[oaks1912]

A large collection including thousands of official scorer scoresheets has recently been donated to the San Diego LIbrary's Baseball Research Center. The scoresheets range from the 1940's until about 2007, and cover several leagues. More information can be found at the link below ...

(http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca...245717501.html)

[YankeeFan]

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

Wow, fantastic. How many did you get? I would love to see those.

Leland's sold a bunch of Ike Kuhn's scored programs & scorecards in the last couple years, I forget who he wrote for, but most included his press pass, and had his stories from the paper about the game stapled inside, sometimes a ticket stub. I got some of those. Very fun to go thru.

Doug - FWIW, Ike Kuhns wrote for the Newark (NJ) Start Ledger. I remember reading him in the sports pages of the late 1960's - early 1970's. I would enjoy seeing one of his scorecards of a Yankees game.

[Vintage Yankee]

Only looking from the phone, it appears that it is the official stat sheet or scorer's summary only, not the official score card. These are not seen as often in the market, but they're not as desireable either.




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[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by YankeeFan

Doug - FWIW, Ike Kuhns wrote for the Newark (NJ) Start Ledger. I remember reading him in the sports pages of the late 1960's - early 1970's. I would enjoy seeing one of his scorecards of a Yankees game.

Thanx, I don't have any of them scanned, but that will give me something to do in the next day or two.

[Bobmc]

Jerome Holtzman, sports writer in Chicago for decades was often designated as The Official Scorer at Chicago White Sox games in Comiskey Park. In 1967 he was the official scorer for many games including a No Hitter in September when the White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 6-0 in game 1 of a doubleheader during the wild A.L. pennant race. Below is an image of Mr. Holtzman's actual official score card that day, when Joe Horlen no-hit the Tigers (Kaline, Mathews, Cash, Freehan, etc).
JeromeHoltzman1967.jpg
from Wikipedia: Born in Chicago, Illinois, Holtzman wrote for his hometown papers for over 50 years. Beginning as a copyboy at the Chicago Daily News in 1943, Holtzman wrote for the paper through its merger with the Chicago Sun. His influence and viewpoints made him something of a legend among newspapermen. Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard, who worked with Holtzman while sports editor of the Sun-Times, called him "the dean of American baseball writers," and went on to say "He never smiled, but he had the keys to Cooperstown. No major leaguer ever got into the Hall of Fame if Holtzman didn't want him there." Holtzman left the Sun-Times in 1981 for the Chicago Tribune, remaining there until his retirement in 1999.

Holtzman was awarded the 1991 J. G. Taylor Spink Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). He was honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors in 1997, who awarded him the Red Smith Award, which is America’s most prestigious sports writing honor. He was elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

Among Holtzman's contributions to the game during his career was the creation of the save statistic in 1959. It was adopted as an official statistic for the 1969 season, the first official new statistic since the run batted in (RBI) in 1920.