Most of what we write about here is old-fashioned scorekeeping, with a pen and paper card. (Or pencil and paper card, if you prefer.) But from time to time we come across innovations. Earlier, for example, we wrote about the Reisner method. And we’ve posted reviews of ways to keep score on your tablet computer or smartphone.
Today, something we’ve never seen before — an entire scorecard in HTML.
It comes from Michael Holloway, who lists himself as a writer and developer living in Toronto. His blog, Internet Baseball Scorecard, has this helpful description of his Minima III Baseball Scorecard. The sample we’ve posted here is from the Jays-Rays game on August 3.
Check it out and let us know what you think. The color system alone is pretty cool.
I’ve posted my thoughts previously regarding computerized scorekeeping. Us “old” guys prefer the age old method of pen /pencil and paper. With that being said, this isn’t bad, I actually like the color coding as well. This is a method of scorekeeping that obviously works for him, which is the important thing over and above everything else. When designing a scorecard / program you need to first find what works FOR YOU, in this case it does. Kudos for a job well done.
erin,
Thanks for posting about my html scorecard! This is the first press I’ve gotten on this!
Much appreciated.
Chuck H. Thanks for the feed back. I learned scoring with paper and pencil – this tries to be as close to that as possible. Glad you like it.
The ‘Minima III’ erin points to above is still in development and will have it’s own website.
The ‘Minima II’ on the other hand is the scorecard I’m using now to score games on-line in a blog.
I just put up a new ‘landing page’ for the blogger scorecard. The “Blogger Baseball Scorecard – Home Page”. It has links all the scorecards and has a guide – for coders and non-coders alike, an easy step-by-step cut and paste method – to create your own html scorecard blog.
Thanks again,
Michael Holloway
Blogger Baseball Scorecard
Toronto
New Home Page:
http://internetbaseballscorecard.blogspot.com/p/blogger-baseball-scorecard-homepage.html
An excellent technical achievement, but I’d find it horribly impractical at a game. I can achieve most of the color coding myself when I use four pencils.
But I’m a Luddite about these matters. There’s something about pencil to paper that is intrinsic the experience, as far as I’m concerned.
Baseball Oogie said,
“..I’d find it horribly impractical at a game.”
I don’t know, there’s always a learning curve with something new… at a ball game you always need a place to put your pencils, this thing might be batter at the park that way. I don’t know, I don’t own a laptop, but I can’t wait to try it.
I’ve tried all sorts of digital scorecards, and speaking as someone who juggles a *lot* at games (scorecard, pencils, camera, etc), I’ve not found any electronic form factor to be useful, and I’ve tried everything from old Palm scorecards. It just never seems practical for me, and I’ve found (for me, again) they take more individual effort to record each play, they don’t let you record balls and strikes well (which is something the should excel at), and a bunch of little quibbles. Paper and pencil always has been faster for me, even using four colors.
That said, for exporting or blogging the data, this is an excellent tool, but I wouldn’t imagine using it until after the game.
Interesting. Thanks for all that great feedback. And you’re absolutely right. So far, paper, and a scribing tool in our incredibly dexterous hands is (hands down) the best technology yet .