Plenty of seats available this summer in the Busch Stadium press box, where Post-Dispatch baseball writers Derrick Goold (right) and Rick Hummel worked on July 7 as they covered the Cardinals’ summer camp. (Post-Dispatch photo by Christian Gooden)
QUESTION: I read somewhere that official scorers will not be in the ballpark when the games start. Huh? How would they score a game from a place where they can’t see the whole field? Are the home teams going to make the calls for them?
COMMISH: This is a move that may backfire. MLB wants to limit the press box occupancies everywhere to provide social distancing and has determined that scorers rank in a tier below sports writers, which seems unusual in that many scorers used to be writers.
They’re going to be scoring at home off television or laptop monitors. But what happens if the power goes out where they are? Or they don’t have access to a shot to show where the base runners were when an outfielder fumbles a ball? As a former scorer myself, it is necessary to see the whole field on every play, not what television, as advanced as it is, gives you.
There likely will be plenty of lag time on some calls until the best replay version shows up. But if the scorers for Cardinals games wish to call me for my opinion on a play, I would be happy to help.