![]() The job itself is challenging because his view sometimes is not the same as the managers for the teams involved. The rest of the dates are filled with trips to Reading and Lehigh Valley. He gets his season schedule for Citizens Bank Park in February. Two years ago, Shute joined the Phillies official scoring crew. Now he schedules all of the official scorers there. Shute did it a few games at the end of that season. It was one of those nights when he was working - and keeping score, like he did with every game of every sport he ever attended - when the Wilmington PR director asked him if he’d like to try being the official scorer. That’s where he got his start as a scoreboard operator. Shute works the majority of the Blue Rocks games as part of his 120-game schedule. That was asking for trouble with extra innings, traffic, etc.” ![]() ![]() I did too many day-night where I’d do a game during the day and a night game in Wilmington. “My girlfriend likes me to be home once in a while. I proved you could be stupid and do that. I worked every day from April to September. “I’ve been cutting back the last couple of years,” he said. Teaching allows Shute the scheduling flexibility to work as an official scorer for as many games as he wants. He’s spent the last 15 years teaching sports marketing classes at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Shute’s real jobs ranged from public relations director for a minor league hockey team to covering Flyers games for The Associated Press to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries for two decades. He played baseball growing up and played adult fast-pitch for 17 years, twice serving as player-coach of a men’s national senior division champion. Shute’s love for baseball and knowledge of the rule book have made him a valuable commodity. He has been doing it for 21 years, and still sees something new almost every night. The Philadelphia-area native and others make the call between hit and error, wild pitch and passed ball, etc. ![]() “I never applied for any of these jobs,” Shute said. Shute simply was in the right place at the right time several times over. ![]()
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