1. Ground ball hit between 1st baseman and second baseman. 1st base breaks and does not get to ball but impacts view of ball of second bm. 2nd misses ball. While this is going on pitcher realizes late that he needs to be at 1st and would have never been there in time.

One scorekeeper thought a hit I thought should go E4 as ball was fieldable by sb. But even if 2nd fields ball runner would have been safe with no one to throw to, so not sure.

2. High chopper to second one of those high spinning trouble balls. Second basemen backs up trying to give himself some room and ball hits and spins away. Did not hit glove. He might have been able to get to ball if he charged, but maybe not.

Either way a difficult play. I was thinking hit and my partner is thinking E4.

You can't say an error is a hit if it is scored an error by the offical scorekeeper. There is only one "offical" scorekeeper and what he/she says is the way it is ---- period. You can say it "shoulda been" a hit.

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One scorekeeper thought a hit I thought should go E4 as ball was fieldable by sb. But even if 2nd fields ball runner would have been safe with no one to throw to, so not sure.

The pitcher not covering the bag does not factor in. Even if the second baseman fields the ball cleanly and the pitcher failed to cover first there would be NO error. That is a mental mistake and mental mistakes do NOT constitue and error. Sounds like E-4 to me because you said the second baseman could have fielded the ball but again if the offical scorekeeper says a hit then it is a hit.

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2. High chopper to second one of those high spinning trouble balls. Second basemen backs up trying to give himself some room and ball hits and spins away. Did not hit glove. , but maybe not.

Hit all the way. You said the magic words --- He might have been able to get to ball if he charged "Might" and "could have made the play with ordinary effort" are quite different.
Fungo

Kind of what I was thinking but wanted to get other inputs. "We" are the official scorekeeper. We discuss plays amonst ourselves. He does the book and then I put the stats together for the coach. We try to keep each other honest, particularly when it comes to plays with either of our kids. If either one of us is not sure we do a little research before making it final.

In the first situation, score a hit because (you say) even if the play were made cleanly the runner would have beat the play. Errors are only charged when the mistake creates or permits an advance that would not have otherwise occurred.

In the second situation, it's a judgment call. Contact with the ball is not required to score an error but you have to see something in particular to score an error when no contact occurs on a bad (spin-induced angular) hop. Not charging the ball is a sin but in this situation most likely not an error. But you'd have to see it to make the judgment call.

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In the first situation, score a hit because (you say) even if the play were made cleanly the runner would have beat the play. Errors are only charged when the mistake creates or permits an advance that would not have otherwise occurred.

I hate to split hairs but BOF didn't say the runner would have beaten the ball to 1st. He said it appeared the pitcher didn't start early enough to be at first base in time to catch the ball because he started late. I see a big difference. "The play" in this case is the ball coming to first base not the pitcher coming to first base. You have to separate the action of the second baseman and the pitcher in this case. If the second baseman can field the ball and make the throw to first base in time to retire the runner with ordinary effort but fails to do because of HIS mistake, it meets all the requirements for an error. I know it doesn't seem fair to the second baseman because the pitcher wasn't covering but that is immaterial as to how you score the action of the second baseman.

IF the second baseman HAD fielded the ball cleanly in time to retire the runner but the pitcher failed to cover then it would be scored a hit because the mental mistake by the pitcher does not constitute an error.
Fungo