Pitch By Pitch

1. After downloading and extracting scorebook.zip, you should have the following files in a common directory: bookv2.xls, box.exe, PARKSYYYY, TEAMYYYY, UMPIRESYYYY, and ROS files for the teams that you’re scoring.

– bookv2.xls – This is the Excel “program” file where you’ll actually score the game.
– box.exe – This is Retrosheet’s box software.
– PARKSYYYY – This is a listing of all MLB parks with their corresponding Retrosheet codes. Note that I’ve made guesses on what the park codes for Citi Field and Yankee Stadium II will be.
– TEAMYYYY – This is a listing of all MLB teams with their corresponding Retrosheet codes.
– UMPIRESYYYY – This is a listing of all MLB umpires with their corresponding Retrosheet codes.
– ROS Files – These are roster files. Remember, you can get up-to-date ROS files on www.pitchbypitch.com.

2. Open bookv2.xls

3. You’ll notice that bookv2.xls has 8 tabs.
– Card – The actual scorecard is in this tab.
– Teams – This tab lists all teams in your team file.
– Away – This tab lists the roster of the away team.
– Home – This tab lists the roster of the home team.
– Parks – This tab lists all parks in your parks file
– Umpires – This tab lists all umpire in your umpires file.
– Setup – This tab is where you can change filename and directory paths.
– Retro – Ignore this tab. This is where imported game data is stored.

4. Click on the Setup tab. Change cell B1 to the directory location where all of your files are stored. Make sure the path ends with “\”. Also, make any necessary changes to the filenames in this tab. For instance, if you’re scoring a game from 2008, make sure all information reads 2008 instead of 2009.

5. Click on the Teams tab. Click “Reload Team List.” All teams in your TEAMYYYY file should now appear.

6. Click on the Parks tab. Click “Reload Parks.” All parks in your PARKSYYYY file should now appear.

7. Click on the Umpires tab. Click “Reload Umpires.” All umpires in your UMPIRESYYYY file should now appear.

8. Click on the Card tab. When you click on cells C1 and C2, a dropdown list of teams from your team file should appear. Click the teams that you’re scoring.

9. Click on the Away tab. Click “Reload Away Team.” All players in the ROS file of the Away team should appear. Do the same in the Home tab.

10. Go back to the Card tab.

11. The remainder of the header information should be fairly self-explanatory. Date is of the format YYYYMMDD (it should reformat automatically). Start and End are the start and end times in 24 hour format (19:05, for example). The Ump fields are dropdown menus from the Umpires tab. Sky is a dropdown menu. Wind S and D are for speed and direction. Field condition and precipitation are dropdown menus.

Retrosheet has a good reference for Retrosheet values and scoring notations.

12. Starting lineups and substitutes are listed down the left-hand side of the scorecard. BO is for batting order. If a DH is being used, the pitcher’s spot is batting order 10. # is not a required column. The Name column is a dropdown menus that comes from the Home and Away tabs. BH/PH is for batting hand and pitching hand. If you press the BH/PH tab, these will populate automatically. The P column is for each player’s initial position (1-9). The DH is 10. A pinch hitter is 11. A pinch runner is 12. The IN column is for the at-bat number when the player entered the game. If the player is a defensive sub, use the at-bat number for the defensive team. If the player is an offensive sub, use the at-bat number for the offensive team. The second P and IN columns are for when players switch positions throughout a game. The O column is not necessary. The ER column is for earned runs for pitchers. The WLS column, put a W, L, or S by the winning, losing and saving pitchers.

13. For each at-bat, there are three rows. The top row is for events that happen before the ball is put into play (SB, CS, WP, BK, etc). The middle row is for events that happen at the plate (S,D,T,HR,K,HP,W,DGR,etc). The bottom row is for advancements that happen after the ball is put into play (1-2, 3XH(82), 2-3;1-2, etc).

14. The Run button generates an event file and box score.

Sorry that this was a very quick overview of how to use the program. Example game scorecards are available on the Bucs2009 page, and those should help. If you’re familar with Retrosheet notation, I think it should make sense.

Good luck!