Some “DH” stars can knock the cover off the ball without being able to run to, get to, or catch and throw one in the field – because they are not expected to do all that other stuff.
If you’re a National League baseball fan, you had to know it was coming from the very moment that Commissioner Bud Selig arm-twisted (and palm-greased) wannabe new owner Jim Crane into taking his freshly purchased NL Houston Astros to the American League as a condition of the former’s approval on the latter’s purchase of same.
Now here it comes. The start. Or whatever. The call to universalize the “DH” for the betterment and love of the game.
Jake Simpson, a sports columnist for The Atlantic’s Entertainment channel got the written support rolling pretty good last summer in his June 25, 2012 article, “Why Every Team in Baseball Should Use Designated Hitters.”
Once Simpson gets past “chicks dig the longball” increase-the-offense argument and the fact that the National League is now the lone holdout on playing baseball “the right way,” the writer claims that the regular play between the two leagues throughout the year, in effect, cries out for a universality on this rule, rather than to force clubs from each league to constantly adjust to the different requirements on a continuous basis. Simpson put it this way in the last sentence of his piece: “Now that interleague play will be a season-long constant instead of a month-long novelty, let’s bring the oldest two-party system in sports a step closer to playing like one league, rather than two.”
So, what do you readers think? Are we now headed faster to a showdown in MLB over the absence of the DH in the National League?
The forces behind the pitch for a universal “DH” appear to be marshaling.
If this is to happen, if the DH becomes the universal rule in MLB, what will you do? Which of your two basic choices are you likely to act upon? Will you adjust and move on with the new rule reality? Or will you stop watching baseball altogether? For Astros fans, that’s basically the point they’ve reached now because of the club’s movement to the AL in 2013. – I’m wondering what fans in cities like St. Louis would do, if the “DH” is also soon forced upon them full-time?
Please give the PPE your comments at the end of this column.
The Pecan Park Eagle 
December 19, 2012 at 1:55 pm |
I’ve already committed myself to the St. Louis Cardinals ever since the Astros moved to the Unamerican League, so my answer is, I would boycott baseball entirely. The use of an “employee” instead of a player (because you can’t call someone who sits out half a game a player) ruins the strategy aspect of the game, but if they do this just to let bandwagon fans see “the longball” more often, then I say to HELL with baseball!
December 19, 2012 at 4:14 pm |
Life long Cardinal fan here and while I can’t stand the DH due to the exact statement Neal made that it squashes so much of the strategy of the game i would remain a Cardinal fan. If MLB went to 23 man roster the strategy might become similar to the 25 man NL roster but that won’t happen as no way the Player Union is going to give up 60 MLB roster spots. Maybe a tweaked rule that the DH is limited to 3 consecutive AB’s that way you have to decide whether to start your DH or wait to the 2nd time through the batting order to bring in the primary DH. A new strategy to ponder – I know just dreaming but it would be interesting to see how teams would handle it.
December 19, 2012 at 4:58 pm |
I hate the DH rule and it is one of the chief reasons I am withdrawing my support from the Astros. I haven’t decided on a new NL team to root for. I could be a free agent for awhile.
No way the union ever drops the DH but, if NL owners wanted to seriously twist this the other direction, the only way I see it happening is an offer to expand to a 27-man roster permanently if the DH is dropped.
Does the union choose to keep 15 high-paying jobs (although Pena may dispute that assertion) or add 60 new jobs? Even then, I’m not sure the union let’s go of this and there would need to be like a three-year transition to allow AL teams to play out their DH contracts.
The NL did have a 16-14 edge in the boardroom but they’ve now lost that advantage too.
December 19, 2012 at 7:32 pm |
I’ve never cared too much for the DH because it makes both the pitcher and the DH become half-players. On the other hand it’s usually not much fun to watch your team build a rally only to have it killed by a pitcher who takes 3 half-swings and walks back to the dugout.
What I advocate is a sort of compromise: have the DH assigned to an individual, not a position. Thus (in most cases), when the manager is faced with taking out his starter he’s also taking out the DH associated with him, and the rest of the game is played without a DH. This would seem to allow for a little more offense early in the game and more managerial tactics later in the game. In fact, the manager might opt to not use his best hitting bench player as the DH in order to have him available later in the game — though that might never happen now that Tony LaRussa has retired.
If nothing else, this compromise approach could be adopted as the rule for all inter-league games to sort of level out the differences between the two opponents.
December 20, 2012 at 12:18 am |
It would be a sad day for Baseball when that happens. It’s already watered down enough. How many more “wild cards” will be added. What’s next? Cheerleaders?
December 20, 2012 at 2:52 pm |
A DH is simply a specialist. Most sports have specialists; football most of all. In baseball, there have been other kinds of specialists for a long time, like lefty relievers whose main job is to come in in key situations to get one lefty batter out. He then sits down for several days. You might say something similar of all starting pitchers. What are they between starts? They do nothing for the team. Does that make them one-quarter players, to follow the reasoning used above? Because starting pitchers are already specialists, it makes perfect sense to have a specialist hit for them. I play Diamond Mind Baseball on my computer, and with the DH I can have Teddy Ballgame in the lineup every day doing what he loves best, and also have Mays, Cobb and Ruth in the outfield. How can you beat that? Why should Ted have to worry about fielding?
December 20, 2012 at 2:56 pm |
Hey Roy! Have you been to a Rangers game in Arlington? They’ve already got cheerleaders—girls who come out and prance around with Texas flags when the Rangers score.
December 21, 2012 at 3:45 am |
Bill: I have been a Rockies season ticket holder for 20 years. The day they put the DH in the National League will be the day I end my association with M.L. baseball. I won’t even watch the A.L games in Coors Field unless it is a World Series game. Hope to see you in St. Louis this year.
December 24, 2012 at 7:23 pm |
I will no longer watch baseball either on TV, online or an actual game, unless someone else is willing to pay for it. I do not wish to continue to financially support this travesty in anyway shape or form.