Doug Hines, President, ScorePad Sports

Job: President, ScorePad Sports

What I do: What started out as a way to learn how to keep score at his sons' baseball games has blossomed for Doug Hines. His company, ScorePad Sports, now posts in-game statistics on the scoreboards at Turner Field and two other major league stadiums as well as on televised broadcasts for several teams in the big leagues. The company provides scoreboard stats for the football teams of the University of Nebraska and Texas A&M University and for a host of minor league and amateur baseball teams. It also supplies scorekeeping software for Palm equipment.

"I wanted to integrate something fun with work," said Hines, 45, a longtime software developer and father of six.

At Turner Field and other stadiums, Hines' software runs all the scoreboards, which tell fans who's batting and pitching, how the hitter is doing in the game and for the season, the speed of each pitch and the out-of-town scores. The scoreboards even provide between-innings trivia.

In the busy control room above the first-base line, the Braves use Hines' software to feed data and graphics into a mini television studio that controls the huge scoreboard in center field and smaller ones around the stadium. For fans at home, the company's software provides on-screen graphics used in TBS broadcasts.

Hines maintains, updates and installs the software and trains people to use it.

What got me interested in this: Hines said he became interested in computer science in high school and has spent 20 years as a software developer, working both for major corporations and on a contract basis.

ScorePad started in the mid-'90s, when his oldest son's baseball coach asked Hines to keep score at the games. He didn't know how, at first. After reading up on scoring, he decided to computerize it. By 1997, he was on the market with a Palm Pilot scoring system.

If it worked on the sandlot, Hines figured it would work in the majors. He began meeting with TBS, and, after a few more years of development, he produced a system for the network's broadcasts of Braves games.

When Turner Field installed its huge, high-definition scoreboard a couple of seasons ago, Hines worked with the Braves to provide the software for the graphics.

His company supplies the scoreboard software for the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds, and he has broadcast contracts with the companies that televise the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, New York Yankees and Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox.

Best part of my job: "Seeing 50,000 people look at [the scoreboard]," Hines said.

Because his children play baseball, he also enjoys being able to give parents and coaches a tool to keep complex stats for young players. Some have e-mailed him to say that those stats have helped get their children baseball scholarships.

"It's nice to come and sit at a ballpark as part of what you do," he said.

Most challenging part: "Being perfect," Hines said. "Especially on the scoreboard." He said owners, general managers and a stadium full of fans are looking at the results of his work. "We have to be right."

What people don't know about my job: "We do so much behind the scenes," Hines said. Preparation for the season begins "when the doors close in October" of the previous year.

What keeps me going: Hines said his business is a family activity. "It is an integral part of all of our lives."

His wife, Sheryl, does consumer support for the company, which has four full-time employees. And his children have been the impetus for his involvement in baseball. While Hines didn't play organized baseball, his oldest son, now in graduate school, played through his senior year in college, and his other two sons play for high school and college teams. One daughter plays high school softball.

Preparation needed for this job: "There's not any substitute for experience," Hines said. He said a background in software development is vital, as is the ability to listen to nontechnical people and understand what they want.

"You also have to be able to go on very little sleep," he added. He shuttled among Atlanta, San Francisco and Cincinnati in the opening weeks of the baseball season.

Hines studied computer science at Eastern Michigan University and Morehouse College.

- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.