Strikeouts#
The strikeout is baseball’s most symbolic out. Three strikes and you’re done — but how you got there matters enough to record differently depending on whether the batter went down swinging or stood there watching strike three go past.
K and Kc#
K is the universal symbol for a strikeout. It dates to the 1860s, when Henry Chadwick (the father of baseball statistics) chose K because “struck” — the root of “strikeout” — ends in K. S was already taken for sacrifice.
- K — strikeout swinging. The batter swung at strike three and missed.
- Kc — strikeout looking (called). Strike three was called by the umpire; the batter did not swing.
Some scorekeepers write the called strikeout as a backwards K — a mirror image of the letter — rather than Kc. Both mean exactly the same thing. The backwards K has become iconic in baseball culture; fan sections sometimes hang backwards K signs for each strikeout by a dominant pitcher, counting them across the outfield wall.
BaseballScorer uses Kc (the text abbreviation) rather than a backwards K, for legibility on screen.
The Tradition of the Backwards K#
The backwards K shows up so often in fan culture partly because of the aesthetic — a mirror letter for a batter who didn’t move, who stood frozen while the pitcher made them look foolish. It’s a small piece of baseball poetry embedded in notation.
In the press box and in fan sections at games like Shea Stadium (where the tradition was particularly strong for strikeout artists), you’d see backwards K signs go up after each punchout. That tradition lives on in any park where a power pitcher is on the mound and the fans are paying attention.
Color Coding#
Strikeouts are red. On a scorecard, red cells indicate an out — and a strikeout is the purest kind of out, with no defensive involvement whatsoever. The pitcher did it alone.
Dropped Third Strike#
Here’s a wrinkle: a strikeout is not always an out.
If the catcher fails to catch strike three cleanly — the ball bounces away — the batter may attempt to run to first base. The rule: the batter can run if first base is unoccupied (or if there are two outs). The catcher must then throw to first to retire the batter, just like any other ground ball.
If the batter reaches first safely on a dropped third strike:
- The pitcher still gets credit for a strikeout (K)
- The catcher gets charged with a passed ball (PB) or the pitcher with a wild pitch (WP), depending on the scorer’s judgment
- The batter is credited as reaching on a strikeout — write K-WP or K-PB to show what happened
If the catcher recovers and throws to first in time:
- Score it K, 2-3 — strikeout, catcher to first baseman
- The pitcher gets the strikeout; the catcher gets an assist
Strikeout Double Plays#
A strikeout can be part of a double play in rare situations. The most common: bases loaded, batter strikes out on a wild pitch, catcher picks it up and throws home to get the runner from third who broke for the plate. Score it K, WP, 2-5-3 or similar, depending on the exact sequence.
These are unusual enough that you may never see one in a season of casual scoring. But if it happens, record the strikeout first and then the subsequent fielding sequence.
In BaseballScorer#
With pitch tracking on: BaseballScorer detects strikeouts automatically. As you record each pitch, the count updates in real time. When the third strike is recorded — whether swinging, looking, or foul tip — BaseballScorer recognizes the at-bat is complete.
If the final pitch was a swinging strike, the outcome is recorded as K. If you mark the pitch as “called strike,” it becomes Kc.
A dropped third strike (wild pitch or passed ball on strike three) is handled by continuing the at-bat after the strikeout — BaseballScorer stays in the at-bat and lets you record what happened to the batter.
Without pitch tracking (manual entry): Tap K (swinging) or Kc (looking) directly in the outcome button grid. The at-bat closes immediately. No additional input is needed for a standard strikeout.
The scorecard cell shows the K or Kc notation with a red background. If pitch dots are enabled, you’ll see the sequence of pitches that led to the strikeout.