What Is an Error in Baseball?

In the sport of baseball, an error is defined as a missed play made by a defensive player that allows a hitter to reach base safely or a base runner to advance. The official scorer decides if a play is an error when, in his or her judgment, a normal play would have gotten someone out or kept a base runner from moving up a base. Errors are categorized as fielding errors or throwing errors, and can have a huge impact on the outcome of a baseball game.

A ground ball that goes through the legs of a fielder is an obvious error. Grounders that a fielder easily reaches but then allows to glance off his glove, or ones that are missed altogether, are considered errors. Hard-hit balls right at an infielder that bounce up and are not handled cleanly are scored errors if the fielder fails to recover the ball in time, despite the fact that the ball was hit with authority. Pop-ups and fly balls that are dropped or muffed are errors when they allow a batter to reach safely, and outfielders that charge a ball on the ground only to let it get by them are charged with errors if a runner advances a base.

Throwing errors occur when a fielder handles a chance but then throws the ball wildly, allowing a batter to reach safely or a runner to advance extra bases. Throwing errors made by infielders on ground balls can be to any base. For example, with a runner on first, a ground ball that a shortstop fields cleanly and then throws away while attempting to force the runner at second will be ruled an error. Some throws are so wild that they sail into the stands or into a dugout; these errors allow runners to advance an extra base besides the one they were running to and are called two-base throwing errors. Outfielders that throw the baseball inaccurately, letting a runner take an extra base, are charged with errors as well.

The most difficult part of being an official scorer is deciding if an error should be given on a play. Most errors are obvious and leave no room for debate, but other plays require the scorer to make a judgment as to if the runner would have been safe or out if the play was made cleanly. An example of this is when a fielder makes a diving stop of a ball and then gets to his feet and throws to first to try to get the runner out. The throw goes high and the first baseman misses it just as the runner is about to cross the base. Scorers will take into account how difficult the play was and whether the runner may have beaten the throw if it was a good one before deciding if an error should be given.

One of the most famous errors ever committed was made by Boston Red Sox first-baseman Bill Buckner. Buckner allowed a ground ball hit by Mookie Wilson to hop through his legs in the tenth inning of the sixth game of the World Series versus the New York Mets on October 25th, 1986. This allowed the winning run to score in a tie game that Boston seemingly had in complete control. The Mets then went on to win the championship two days later in the seventh and deciding contest.

The term mental error is used in baseball to describe an action, or lack of one, by a fielder that allows a runner to reach safely or advance a base. Mental errors are not scored errors the way physical errors are, but they can be just as devastating to a team's chances of winning. Examples of mental errors are a pitcher not covering first base on a ball hit to the first baseman wide of the bag or a shortstop failing to cover second during an attempted steal by a runner.