A scorekeeper gives a player an error if he believes an average fielder making normal effort should have made the play successfully. As you can imagine, this leaves a lot of room for interpretation by scorekeepers! It can be pretty subjective and a scorekeeper's calls do sometimes get changed after the game. Here's one problem: If an above-average fielder makes an extraordinary effort to get a ball into his glove, where an average fielder would not even have reached it, then makes a bad throw because he is off balance, he gets an error. But the hypothetical average fielder making his normal effort would not even have had the ball in his glove in the first place, so he couldn't have made an error. The scorekeeper has no means to track this. Here's another problem: A scorekeeper has no means of awarding any official recognition to a fielder who makes extraordinary effort and makes a play that the average fielder would not have made. It's common for scoresheets to have blue stars or some such, recognizing a great play, but there is nothing official. I believe there should be a new statistic, which I suppose could be called a robbery. A robbery would be defined as the opposite of an error. If an error is a play that is NOT made, but would have been an out if it had been made, then a robbery would be a play that IS made, but would have been a hit (not an error) if it had not been made.

I think Yo Yo Head is largely correct--and I think the implementation of robbery is long overdue--but I disagree with the conclusion about the above-average player making the extraordinary play but being charged with an error on the throw. I don't think that is always the case. I think it depends, like every other judgment call in baseball, it would depend on the circumstances. I've seen great fielders make extraordinary stops and then not complete the throw to 1st in time for the out and not be charged with an error. Usually it's because the effort to make the stop makes it difficult to make a proper throw to first. Now if a great fielder makes a great stop, and has time to turn or set to make a good throw and, say, throws it into the stands, I'm confident he would be charged with an error. But if he makes the stop while diving into the left out field grass at a 180-degree angle from 1st base, he's not likely to make the throw and most scorers would rule it hit, probably an infield hit. That's my take anyway. I'm not an umpire, but I watch, talk, and think about way too much baseball.

An error is charged against a fielder who makes a misplay which prolongs the time at bat of a batter whether the batter later reaches base or is put out. A muffed foul fly prolongs the time at bat of a batter . I can't think of any other "misplay" by a fielder which could "prolong the time at bat."