Phillies

Filling Out a Scorebook During a Playoff Game: Violation or Not a Violation?

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 6th, 2024 · 10:53 AM EDT

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This was funny at the time, but gramps got the last laugh when his Mets took game 1 from the Phillies:

Mets fan in front of us googling “citizens bank park usher” because fans in front of him won’t sit down @CrossingBroad pic.twitter.com/KFq4b1G0ZL

— Kirsten Swanson (@kbswan5) October 5, 2024

Putting aside the issue of the young whippersnappers who wouldn’t sit down in front of him, the scorebook is curious. Keeping score is an ages-old baseball tradition. Fans follow the game and track their own statistics and write it all down on paper. We’ve got official scorekeepers, of course, and fans aren’t exactly submitting their books to ESPN or Baseball Reference, but they say it helps them stay dialed in and pay attention a little more closely, as opposed to just sitting there and watching and feeling detached.

But during a postseason game? Dunno. I can see if you’re sitting there in an half-full park, maybe 75% or 80% during a regular season game, where the stakes aren’t as high and the energy is lower. People aren’t standing up screaming as they live and die with every pitch. You’re dialed in with postseason baseball just by virtue of the fact that places like CBP are electric, so filling out a scorebook while sitting down feels little out of place to me. It feels counterintuitive. To each their own I guess. If the guy enjoys doing it, cool, but this is the NLDS between division rivals who have never before met in the playoffs, not game 75 between the Twins and the Guardians. It reminds me a bit of the person who goes to the concert and stands there filming it on their smart phone.

Am I wrong? You tell me – keeping a paper scorebook during a postseason game, violation or not a violation?