• Scoreboards have had a long life and are probably older than most of us who relish the modern-day game. The scoreboards have evolved in a significant manner over the years having moved hand-in-hand with the growing technologies. In the new age, we have been blessed with electronic scoreboards shooting fireworks and animations to celebrate a home run or a victory. There were times when the scoreboards were operated by ‘scoreboard keepers’ with the use of chalks and hanging boards marked with numbers.

    Here’s a look at the early scoreboards and the adoption of the electronic scoreboard:

    • First ever scoreboard

    The first ever scoreboard tag is debated between Harvard University and Penn University. Harvard claims to have had the first ever scoreboard during their football game on Thanksgiving Day in 1983, while Penn university claims that they had the first ever scoreboard in 1895. Apart from all of that, the first ever scoreboard mention in the New York Times was in account of Penn’s 12-0 win over Princeton on the 11th of November 1894.

    • Electric scoreboards

    George A. Baird developed an electric baseball scoreboard in 1908, in Chicago. This scoreboard recorded balls, strikes, and outs in electric format, while everything else was still added manually. This was a substantial invention, with great prowess, but it did not prove good enough to be picked up as quickly people thought it would be. It was picked up and tested by only two major league clubs in Boston. The manual scoreboards added more impetus to their profile, over two decades, with extended information about players, lineups, pitcher’s numbers and inning scores.

    • Gametrackers

    Gametrackers were an extended innovation of the electric scoreboard, as that did not pick up at the stadiums. The newspapers houses adopted the electric boards to put up the score and simple graphics from the game. This news was telegraphed to the gametracker operators from the stadium. Thousands of people gathered outside the newspaper’s building to keep up with the gametracker and get instant news on the game.

    • Yankees and their electric scoreboard

    The Yankee Stadium, built in 1923, featured a manual scoreboard for a span of 27 years. The scoreboard was placed in a spot that offered visibility to the fans sitting in all parts of the stadium. In 1950, Yankees unveiled an electronic scoreboard; they claimed this scoreboard to be “the most efficient scoreboard ever built and, in general, a big stride forward.” It featured a non-glare enamel covering and was operated by two operators as opposed to five on the earlier ones.

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  • Baseball is one of the most exciting games to watch. But it’s not all that fun if you fail to understand the scoreboard. We often have people around us who might be able to track the scorecard and are constantly nagging us for help during the entire game. Well, if you are the one that nags then this article will help you understand baseball scoreboards better, and if you are the one facing the music, maybe you can get your friends to read this.

    Here is a set of pointers that can improve your understanding of the baseball scorecards:

    • The runs scored in the innings will always be a part of the scoreboard, they are generally located next to the name of the team. The numbers 1-10 indicate the innings that the runs are being scored in. For example, if there is a 4 below 1 in the visitor’s section, then it means they scored 4 runs in that inning. You must also note that a run is counted only when a player completes his run (covering all the four bases).
    • The total of all the runs scored in the 10 innings will be the final score for the team. The runs from all the innings are added to make the final score for the team. The team scoring the highest number of runs at the end of all innings wins the game.
    • The visitor’s team always holds the first horizontal row of the scoring, while the home team holds the bottom position. The away team is on top as they always bat first in a baseball game.
    • The “H” and “E” next to the “R”, indicated the total number of hits and errors made by the player at the base.
    • The number next to the strike denotes the number of strikes the pitcher has made against this particular batter. A batter is out if there are three strikes made against him.
    • The pitch count indicates the number of players that have taken pitch in the entire game for the home team as well as the visitor’s team. The number next to the “V” is for the visitors while the number next to the “H” is for the home team.
    • The “OUT” indicates the number of players that have been dismissed by the pitcher. The pitcher can dismiss a hitter by making three strikes or if one of the fielders catches the ball before it hits the turf.
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