The Designated Hitter

Now that there is inter-league play (which I am not too thrilled about, traditionalist that I am) it is time to ditch the designated hitter, which was introduced into the American League in 1973 under the dubious assumption that fans were less interested in strategy and more interested in seeing lots of runs scored;.  it was thought necessary to score more runs in order to compete with the more violent sport of football.  What happened was more use of steroids to hit home runs and more sore-armed pitchers, as pitchers were never taken out for pinch-hitters.  It also made it more difficult to retaliate against beanball-throwing pitchers, since pitchers in the American League never batted.

Tim Rohan, in yesterday's New York Times, pointed out that NY Mets pitchers went hitless in their first 64 times at bat this year, which leads John Thorn, official historian for Major League Baseball, to suggest that this means it is time for the D.H. in the National League.  Roger Angell once suggested that some day we might even have baseball teams divided like football teams, one team for fielding and one for hitting (notice I do not say "offense" and "defense," since these terms do not apply to the unique sport of baseball, where scoring is not done with the ball) which fortunately I think is unlikely, due to the cost of so many additional players.  I suggest instead that pitchers could learn to hit, or at least bunt, and help out themselves.  It goes back to the minor leagues, where A ball and lower uses the D.H. while in AA and AAA the pitcher only bats when both teams are National League affiliates.  This may have made some sense in the days when the reserve clause was still in effect, but in today's world of free agents, when players often change leagues, it no longer applies.  Have the pitchers all bat in the minor leagues; they are not that delicate.  As a follower of the New York teams I regret the loss of Chien-Ming Wang, injured while running the bases, but this was due more to lack of experience than anything else.

One of the beauties of baseball is the balance of hitting and fielding and it rankles to have a player doing only one of those, taking away the strategy of balancing how well a pitcher is doing against the need to score enough runs to win. Career D.H. Edgar Martinez did not get enough votes for the Hall of Fame and I doubt that David Ortiz will either.  I cherish memories of games such as the Mets and the Braves on July 4, 1985 when the Mets went ahead in the top of the 18th by one run and Braves pitcher Rick Camp tied it in the bottom of the 18th with a home run!