Courtesy runner

[team mom]

Is there a way to put in a punch runner via pitch by pitch editing?

[FTMSupport]

You would just have to enter an offensive substitution right after the batter gets a hit.

[team mom]

So a sub and then substitute back after the courtesy runner scores? That works.

[pepsipker16]

Is there a way to make it so when a courtesy runner scores, the original batter gets credited for the run? I score high school baseball games, and that is how it is officially scored.

[FTMSupport]

Can you give us a reference to the rule that says the original batter gets credit for the run scored? We have never heard of this and logically it doesn't seem to make sense. If a courtesy runner comes in, all of the base running statistics would belong to that player as the runner. The courtesy runner may be faster / slower than the person they are running for. Would you expect a stolen base or caught stealing by the courtesy runner would be assigned to the person they are running for?

If you have an official rule reference that says the stats of the courtesy runner go to the person they are running for, we would like to see it.

[pepsipker16]

Sorry, I'm just going by what the coach said, but he says if the courtesy runner scores, the run is credited to the original batter. Stolen bases/ caught stealing would still go to the courtesy runner.

[FTMSupport]

We have never seen a rule that states this, and have seen many references that say the opposite. As far as we know, the courtesy runner gets credit for all statistics that the courtesy runner produces. If the coach has a rule reference that shows something different, we would like to see it and can make an update accordingly.

[mprusak]

Is there a way to make it so when a courtesy runner scores, the original batter gets credited for the run? I score high school baseball games, and that is how it is officially scored.

To answer this question, you can manually edit the stats to give the runs to original batter and subtract from pinch/courtesy runner. You could also put the courtesy runner in, then if that runner scores, before scoring the play, put original batter back in as a courtesy runner.

Coaches make goofy requests sometimes.

[AE32170C18]

Granted this is just a little out of date but original rules stated the run went to the batter. Personally, you could almost credit each with 1/2 run. One couldn't do it without the other. Kind of like giving a save and win.

Early Courtesy Runner Practices

In the early days of major league play, quite a few of the rules and accepted practices were quite different from those in place at the beginning of the 20th Century, which is usually considered to be the start of the modern era. Here are some notes about courtesy runners in the National Association, the first major league, which existed from 1871 to 1875.

From the "Guidelines" that Bob Tiemann distributed c1990 for the National Association Box Scores Project, which generated the NA statistics gradually published in Total baseball and later elsewhere:
"Pinch-runners. With the consent of the opposing team, another player was allowed to run the bases for a teammate. This was a common practice and need not be noted. If the pinch-runner stole a base or was caught stealing, credit the pinch-runner with the steal or caught. But if the pinch-runner scored, credit the original batter with the run scored."

Our thanks for the above information to Paul Wendt, who is the chair of the Nineteenth Century Committee of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). More information about the committee and related research is available from SABR 19th Century Committee.

[FTMSupport]

If you can provide links to official references with any rules that contradict what we do, we would like to see those as we have followed official rules everywhere we can find them when it comes to stats. Everything official we have ever seen says the courtesy runner gets credit for what they do on the field.