Strike outs

Question
Why is the K used for displaying how many strike outs there are for the batters?

Answer
Kelly -

Thanks for the question.  And its a good one.  Here is what I can tell you about this odd-seeming symbol. Keep in mind that there are many different thoughts on this, but I will give you the one that is most widely recognized as being accurate.

Back in the early days of baseball, one of the prominent scorekeepers found that it was much easier, space-saving, and quicker to use symbols when keeping a scorebook.  So he got into the habit of using the last letters of a word to symbolize it.  For strike out, he used the word "struck".  Out of that he got "K".  That is how the symbol got started.

There are a few other little interesting things about it as well.  First one is that there is a backwards "K" as well.  This is used when a batter strikes out without swinging (looking).  So if a batter swings and misses on a thrid strike, it is marked "K".  If he takes the third strike, it is marked with a backwards "K" (obviously I cant write that for you because the keyboard doesnt have a backwards "K" on it).  

Some also believe that the "K" is used because of the 3 slashes of the pencil it takes.  One slash per strike.  If a K appears, it is 3 strikes.  The only problem with this theory is that after the first strike, a scorekeeper wouldnt know if it would be a forward or backward "K" at the end.  

So that is the history of it.  I hope this helps.  Let me know if I can help you any further in the future.  

Best wishes

Coach Perl