Senior Citizen Keeps Score at the Ballpark

Walking around the Diamondbacks spring training stadium today, I noticed a woman keeping score!  When I was growing up, I loved keeping score.  Many of my friends knew how to keep the book and all the nuances of keeping score.  We had to do it for our little league through high school games.  Listening to Yankee games, I would keep a book.  True, I very rarely make it all the way through the game - but the thought was always there.

I loved the excitement of a fresh game starting entering the lineups in the book.  From my Massachusetts home, I could listen to a Cleveland radio station (wwwe) broadcasting live, "from the shores of Lake Erie."  And, I could listen to stations in Baltimore and Washington, D.C while keeping a score card!  But, keeping score is a less common practice now.  Maybe it's a different generational thing.  After my generation, the practice seemed to decline.

Senior Citizen Keeps Score at the Ballpark

Non-baseball fans can't appreciate it.  Casual baseball fans might wonder why we would do it?  Even serious baseball fans may not spend the time.
That is why I really appreciated seeing a senior citizen with a pencil and a score book.  It was about the eighth inning and I stuck up conversation from over her shoulder.

She turned around, smiled and said she had been keeping score since she was young. Her father brought her to her first game when she was five years old.  A pitcher for the Cleveland Indians was pitching is first game.  His name?  Bob Feller.  Her dad had tickets two rows back on the first base side.  She said she has been going to games ever since.

She actually flew to Arizona for ten days worth of spring training games.  Today's game was the Diamondbacks vs. the Royals.  She's a Cleveland Indian fan, but enjoys the game so here she was at this game.  It gets better.  In 1949 she told me that a book came out by Cleveland Indian announcer, Jimmy Dudley.  The book was a 'how to' book on score keeping.

Jimmy Dudley's  Baseball Score Book

Today there was a double header with the second game being Team USA vs. the Rockies.  She left the park with her small steps and waited for 75 minutes to re-enter the park.  Where would she go?  Her small steps would take 40 minutes to get to her car and back.  So, she must have just sat outside the gate!

I happened to see her come back in. I said hello.  She asked about the lineups so we walked over to the booth that had programs for sale.  These programs were the same as the day game, but the clerk said she had "tonight's lineups" coming out soon!  My senior citizen friend was so happy.  But, it was till 90 minutes before first pitch!

The woman stood at the booth waiting for the lineup card.  I told her if I was staying at the park, I would bring the lineup card to her seat.  Before I left the park, I got involved with one of my projects.  I looked back over at the program booth.  There she was still standing there waiting for tonight's lineup.  How sweet.  How cute she was.  Earlier she had asked me where she could get one of those BIG PRETZELS as she had a hot dog for lunch.  This would be her dinner.

From my view, I saw her buy the pretzel.

Later, I saw her sitting, still waiting for the lineup card!  She flashed me her pretzel with a smile as if she had done something sneaky.  It's a beautiful thing that people appreciate baseball the way she does.  It's a beautiful thing to be able to sit calmly, relaxed, doing anything these days (without multi-tasking and over stimulating).  There is a sweetness in keeping score that does go back to another time of Phil Rizzuto, Mel Allen and all the rest.  I will check on my friend tomorrow.  She will be there for Italy vs. Mexico!

NOTE: Update from 3/07/13.  She was one of the first ones into the ball park.  I saw her coming through the gate and had a small chat.  The next time I saw her was 11:30am when she told me she already ate her hot dog and was now looking for popcorn so she could enjoy the game of Mexico versus Italy.  Now, with the excitement of the Mexico fans, there's another story!

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