How to Read Baseball Box Scores

Here is a quick lesson on reading box scores.

First, take a quick look at the box score shown below. You will see this box score four times throughout the article, and this will make it easier to read the explanations about the details of the box score.

This box score below shows the results of a game between the New York Yankees and the St. Louis CArdinals in the late 1920s.

First, we will examine all of those scary little number and letters contained in the hitter's box scores, and once we have a complete understanding of those symbols and their importance, we'll attack the pitcher's box score lines.

The above box score is a bit more comprehensive than those seen in most daily newspapers. But that's a good thing, because there will be more simple codes to understand, and the reader will develop a richer understanding of the information and even the stories that are locked within the daily box scores. Moreover, because this box score includes defensive statistics, you will get a snapshot of how each player held down his position on the field.

Let's begin at the top left of the Box Score, where it says "Yankee" (sic). That indicates that the players listed below are the Yankees who actually played in the game.

Moving to the right, we see AB, which means the number of official At-Bats that the player had during the game. The next column is headed R, which stands for runs scored. Next in line is H,which means Hits. A hit is made anytime the batter hits the ball into fair play and is able to reach at least first base safely without error or forceout. It's a single, double, triple or home run. Those are your hits.

The final offensive column entry is for RBI. RBI are runs batted in by the player during the game. If the batter drives a man on base across home plate by getting a hit, or a sacrifice, or even a groundout that doesn't result in a double play.

To the right of the RBIcolumn, the player's box score contains three straight codes for evaluating defensive performance.

The first is PO, which means put outs. A put out is recorded by the player who ultimately causes the out by either catching a ball in his glove or by applying a tag to a baserunner. Catching a flyball is a good example of a putout. First baseman routinely catch a dozen or more ground ball force-out throws per game, and each catch is a put-out on their career statistical record. Catchers who work with pitchers like Nolan Ryan or Randy Johnson also notch a lot of putouts per year.

The next heading, Marked As, stands for Defensive Assists. A good example of an assist is a ground ball hit to shortstop Derek Jeter, who fields it cleanly and then throws out the the runner before he reaches first base. While the first baseman gets the putout for catching the ball and standing on the bag, Jeter gets an assist.

Another good (but much rarer) example is the outfield assist. An outfielder can get an assist by throwing out a runner who is trying to tag up on a fly ball, or by cutting down a runner who is trying to take an extra base on a hit (such as trying to stretch a double into a triple). If the outfielder throws the runner out -- while the runner is trying to score or just move up an extra base -- the outfielder gets an assist.

E stands for Errors, and Errors are not good. And Error occurs whenever the game's official scorer determines that a defender failed to make a play that he reasonably should have. The basic rule: if a player of reasonable professional skill would likely have made the play, the failure to do so is an error.

Now let's take a look at one hitter's complete line for the game. Let's take Lou Gehrig. Go to Gehrig's name, and once you've found it, read the numbers going down the row immediately to the right of Gehrig's name. After Gehrig's position is listed (1b), the next number is 4. If you run your eyes straight up the column, you can see that the 4 corresponds with AB, which means at-bats. So, by reading the box score, you now know that in this 1926 game, Lou Gehrig had 4 at-bats against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Now move one space at a time to the right across the column, and when you get to each number, look straight up the column to see which number corresponds with which category. Moving down the Gehrig line for the day, we see that Lou had 4 at-bats, zero runs scored, two hits and 2 RBI on offense. He also had seven putouts on defense. Gehrig had no defensive assists that day, and he played error-free.

That sure tells a person a lot about what happened during the game and how the players performed individually. Keep in mind that before national television and the internet, the best was to obtain information on an out of of town player was by reading the box scores.

In time with the advent of stat geeks like me and things like fantasy baseball, box scores on some websites have become more complicated, often representing as many as 10 offensive categories (each with a corresponding abbreviation). But for now, these box scores will do.

To learn more about how baseball hitting and slugging averages are calculated, click here.

Immediately beneath the hitter's portion of the box score is listed the winning and losing pitchers of the game.

Beneath that is a box score of pitcher's statistics. The column heading abbreviations mean the following: IP mean innings pitched, R means runs surrendered, ER, means earned runs surrendered, i.e, runs that were not scored with the help of a fielder's error.

ERA is a key statistic. It means Earned Run Average. Earned Run Average is the average number of earned runs surrendered by a pitcher per ever nine innings pitched. In today's game, a pitcher with an ERA under 3.00 is a rarity, and a very rich man.

H means Hits surrendered. K means batters that the pitcher struck out. BB means walks surrendered by the pitcher. HP means Hit by Pitch (batters that the pitcher hit). TP means Total Pitches thrown in the game. KP means pitches thrown for strikes. BP means pitches that were thrown for balls.

A look at Waite Hoyt's Box score line shows that he pitched very well that day. He pitched nine innings (9.0 IP) surrendered just one run, which was earned, and allowed only six baserunners while striking out six. Of his 124 pitches, Hoyt threw twice as many strikes a balls.

This was a fairly simple box score to analyze. However, as stats take over so many aspects of the game, box scores are turning into spreadsheets, with new statistics like VORP, OPS, Win-Share Pct., EqSlg. and a lot of other fun stats that can teach even the most diehard fan a great deal more about the game. The numbers can tell such captivating stories.

To read more about understanding baseball stats, click here.