# When did fans start with counting K's in baseball? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2002, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-fans-start-with-counting-ks-in-baseball/123856 "2002-08-14T18:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-fans-start-with-counting-ks-in-baseball/123856/1 "2002-08-14T18:49:43Z")
The Dope speaks. [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mstrike.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mstrike.html) ---
**Author:** ![NYR407](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@NYR407](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NYR407)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-fans-start-with-counting-ks-in-baseball/123856/2 "2002-08-14T19:36:40Z")
Thanks Elwood but I was wondering when the fans became involved in posting the K’s on the staduim overhangs and such not when it became used in the scoring of baseball games. Sorry for the confusion. BTW this was an accidental double post so one of them may get closed by the Mod. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-fans-start-with-counting-ks-in-baseball/123856/3 "2002-08-14T19:42:54Z")
I don’t know who can definitively claim being the first person to start posting Ks by hand up in stadiums. My theory on this is that it would be in the 1970s when there were several great strikeout pitchers, especially Nolan Ryan, and crowd shots became far more common on television. I would lean to either Anaheim fans doing it for Ryan in the mid-1970s or Yankee fans doing it for Guidry. By the 1980s, it was fairly common for games involving high strikeout pitchers. I can only state that it wouldn’t have happened in L.A. with Koufax pitching because you can’t hang signs up in Dodger Stadium because they violate fire codes in Los Angeles. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-fans-start-with-counting-ks-in-baseball/123856/4 "2002-08-14T19:46:52Z")
AFAIK, it was started when Dwight (“Dr. K”) Gooden was with the Mets. ---
**Author:** ![NYR407](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@NYR407](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NYR407)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-fans-start-with-counting-ks-in-baseball/123856/5 "2002-08-14T20:25:00Z")
Thanks Chuck my OP is missing in this thread and that is exactly when I thought it was. Of course someone may come in and disprove it. Bob, I know it could have been any number of fans/team but I don’t recall it before Dwight Gooden and the Mets in 1984. Boston had Clemens back then but did they start counting the K’s before the Mets fans? I think they do it now with Pedro. ---
**Author:** ![NYR407](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@NYR407](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NYR407)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-fans-start-with-counting-ks-in-baseball/123856/6 "2002-08-14T20:36:01Z")
In case anyone cares, here is my OP: My cousin and I were trying to figure out when this tradition started. The earliest memory I have is when Mets fans at Shea would count the K’s for Dwight Gooden. I have a feeling the tradition is older but I can’t recall seeing it before then. But being a Mets fan may be blinding my memory. Anyone know of other fans doing this earlier than 1984? ---
**Author:** ![Omnipresent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@Omnipresent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omnipresent)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-fans-start-with-counting-ks-in-baseball/123856/7 "2002-08-15T00:33:32Z")
FWIW, the first time I recall seeing it was at Shea Stadium when Dwight Gooden was pitching for the Mets. I think that might have been '84.