I must say that after the positive response I got about the Video / Score Board Operator I don’t know if I can classify it as under appreciated now. Well since I think that appreciation will only last for a short time I will leave it at number 5 on my list. Now last time I posted some jobs that almost made the top 5 but just missed. Today I’m going to list a few jobs that I didn’t even consider even though other people might.
Not Even Considered Jobs for the List
1. Umpires – Yes they have a huge impact. Yes they can be under appreciated, but really when an individual decides to be an umpire, they know that the fans yelling at them is going to happen. An umpire who thinks the fans are going to love them is an umpire that isn’t mentally on the same planet as the rest of us.
2. Bat Boys- You run and grab a bat, give the umpire balls, and you get to watch the game from the dugout. Yeah not even close to making the list.
3.The Seat Attendant- I know this job isn’t perfect but how many times have you gone to a game and walked right by the attendants and they never even noticed you because they were to focused on the game. Now that’s my type of job.
Number 4 on the List is…..
Few things in baseball get me good and riled up. Hearing people say things like “tie goes to the runner” and “coaching isn’t that important in baseball” or my all time favorite “I could have played professional baseball but my coach in Little League/Babe Ruth/High School didn’t like me so he didn’t play me” are just a few things that do get me riled up.
However the statement I want to ponder over is this “I should be a scorekeeper, it can’t be that hard.” Which leads me to the job that ranks 4th on my most under appreciated jobs in baseball, the Official Scorekeeper.
Now I am not going to say that this job is as hard as a lot of jobs out there but this job isn’t with out its challenges. It is the Official Scorekeeper’s job to determine if a misplayed ball is an error or a hit, whether a pitch that goes to the backstop is a wild pitch or a passed ball, and whether or not a player should get an RBI when the fielder hesitates with the ball and lets the run score or if he counts that as an error. None of these seem to important until you stop and think that an Official Scorekeeper’s ruling could extend a no-hitter, or end a no-hitter (it has happened on more then one occasion).
Impact on players stats
It also doesn’t make it easier when you think about the impact that an Official Scorekeeper can have on a players future. Now I’m not saying that an Official Scorekeeper is going to greatly impact a player future earnings by any one decision but what if a player has 25 balls put into play that are border line hits or errors. If those 25 balls are ruled hits that can raise a players average by 10 points but on the opposite end if they are ruled errors then he would lose 10 points on his average. Additionally if an average of one run is scored on each of those hits that can be the difference between 25 RBIs or 0 RBIs.
Everyone else has an opinion
If knowing this wasn’t enough to make this job a bit under appreciated then having a half dozen back seat scorekeepers puts it over the top. There is nothing like ruling a play a hit only to have the out of town radio guy walk in a tell you that you were wrong and that he couldn’t believe you didn’t rule that an error. Yes I’ve seen this first hand, and yes no one liked that radio guy anyways.
It also doesn’t help when you make a ruling and look at the dugouts to see the coaches looking up at you like ‘common really?’ Remember the Official Scorekeeper meets with each manager to see if they questioned any of the rulings and they can make their case why they feel it should be changed. That just might be a bit intimidating especially after a manager just lost a game and isn’t happy to begin with.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is this. If the Official Scorekeeper rules a play a hit or an error just mark it down in your own score book and just be thankful that when the game is over no one interrogates you as to why you thought that ruling was right.
But then you have to also deal with the public address announcer, who doesn’t know a thing about baseball. You have to answer a ridiculous amount of ridiculous questions, including “what would happen if the ball hit a bear that was sitting in the outfield, and the ball never hit the ground?” or “would you classify that as a ‘sac chop’?”. I agree it is an extremely under appreciated job.
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