Visual Baseball: Introducing the Visual Box Score

I’ve always wanted to revolutionize the baseball box score to reveal more information at a glance. Here’s a first stab, using an old box score from Game 3 of the 2009 ALDS between the Angels and Red Sox. You’ll see a key in the lower right corner that explains everything. I’m still missing a lot of information I’d like to convey (most notably the performance of the pitchers in the game). And there are many aspects to this that I am not sure about. Still, I’m interested in seeing if this is a promising start.

image – The Angels came to life in the 9th, putting 5 consecutive hitters on base and scoring 3 times.
– The middle of the Angels order was pretty productive, driving in 6 runs and generally wreaking havoc.
– Until the 9th, the Angels had only strung together consecutive hits once (in the 6th)
– 10 Angels batters stranded runners in scoring position.
– The Angels drove in 5 of their 7 runs without the benefit of an extra base hit

For the Red Sox:

– Lowell was on base 3 times and drove in 1.
– Drew had a mixed day. He drove in 2, but also ended two innings.
– The Red Sox never got a lead off man on base in any inning.
– No Red Sox batter stranded a runner in scoring position.
– The Red Sox scored 5 of their 6 runs in the second time up against Scott Kazmir.
– The Red Sox drove in all 6 of their runs via extra base hits


Kevin Dame is a writer and visual designer who brings sports information to life in new and meaningful ways. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter @kevintdame.
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jim
13 years ago

I think this should be called Visual Scorecard as it is more representative of a scorecard than a box score.  i like it, but think you should distinguish between single and walks and double/triple. maybe a single underline for a single, a ___ ___ underline for doubles and a __ __ __ underline for trilples.

thanks

lwwalker
13 years ago

Agreed with Jim. If you want it to be more like a box score, you might want to interpolate the batters from the two teams into a single box.  i.e. LAA 1st, BOS 1st, LAA 2nd, BOS 2nd instead of LAA 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.  Color coding could distinguish between the teams.  A sidebar with some kind of graphical summary per player (tiny pie charts!!) would be nice.  And what about the pitchers?

I do think it’s a good start!

kds
13 years ago

I agree with Jim about scorecard vs boxscore, but I think it is scorecard that we want.

You have restricted yourself to only 2 colors and a few typefaces.  Drop these restrictions and you can show almost everything.  You could have different colors to show the 8 different baserunner situations and show any changes during a PA.  (SB, CS, PO, Balk).  And you could use typefaces, bolding, underlining, etc., to show 1b, k, HR, GDP, etc., etc.

NCRF
13 years ago

When I look at a box score, what I want to know is how each player did, individually.  With this format, I have to scan top-to-bottom, left-to-right to find the player’s name, then interpret the symbols and sum them up. Even a scorecard lets me find that information more easily because each player is still on a single line.