Error
EA misplay by a fielder that, with ordinary effort, should have resulted in an out or prevented an advance.
An error is charged when a fielder, by misplay, prolongs an at-bat, lets a runner advance, or lets a runner reach base when ordinary effort would have produced an out. The phrase ordinary effort is the whole test: a ball a fielder should have handled but didn't is an error; a genuinely tough chance is a hit, not an error.
Errors come in two main forms. A fielding error is a muffed grounder, a dropped fly ball, or a missed catch. A throwing error is a wild throw that lets a runner reach or advance. When a batter reaches base only because of an error, it is scored as reached on error (ROE), and the batter is not credited with a hit.
Errors also ripple into pitching stats: a run that scores only because of an error is usually unearned, which protects the pitcher's ERA. Of all baseball stats, the error is the most judgment-driven, which is why a good scorebook flags the call rather than guessing.
Bleacher Notes flags candidate errors from the narration (booted, bobbled, threw it away) and, when the call is close, surfaces it for you to confirm rather than silently deciding hit vs. error.
What is the difference between a hit and an error?
If a play could have been made with ordinary effort and wasn't, it's an error and no hit is credited. If the ball was a genuinely tough chance the fielder couldn't reasonably make, it's a hit.
Does an error count against the batter's average?
Reaching on an error is not a hit and not an at-bat-saving event: it counts as an at-bat with no hit, so it lowers batting average, but it is not charged as a strikeout or out in the field.
Let the scorebook keep itself.
Bleacher Notes scores every play from a single spoken sentence, applying these rules for you. In beta now, free for parents.