Strike Three

April 28, 2006

Ever wonder why in the world a strike-out is referred to as a “K”? Last year at a Cubs game I asked 10 people sitting around me and not one person knew. I shouldn’t have expected more… come on they’re Cub fans.

Having a thirst for knowledge like any normal (Sox) fan I searched out the meaning.

The “K” or “K-S” refers to how strike-outs are recorded on the scorecard.

Some scorers record strikeouts where the batter didn’t swing at the last pitch with a backwards-facing K, also recorded as K-C. The use of “K” for a strikeout was invented by Henry Chadwick, a newspaper journalist. The letter “S” was used to coin “sacrifice” so Mr. Chadwick decided to use “K”, with “K” being the last letter in “struck”. Mr. Chadwick also invented many other baseball scoring abbreviations, such as using numbers to designate player positions. Although some people use SO, that is typically used to denote a shutout.

The top 3 Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders (active players in bold):
1. Nolan Ryan – 5714
2. Roger Clemens – 4502
3. Randy Johnson – 4372

Source

April 28, 2006 | Filed Under Sports

Comments

One Response to “Strike Three”

  1. gw on May 1st, 2006 7:02 am

    Its good to know that at Johns game the girls
    put up the backwards K. Funny you should post something like this…

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