Every Spring someone wants the National League to adopt the designated hitter rule; this year William C. Rhoden of The New York Times was one of the first to voice this opinion. The reason: Cardinal pitcher Adam Wainwright injured himself batting! I've already weighed in on this subject on this blog (May 21 of last year). Rhoden and some players seem to think that fans want to see more hitting and I question that assumption: seeing the pitcher execute a sacrifice bunt is one of the beauties of the game. Wainwright himself says that the injury could have happened anyway. Are we next going to pass a rule forbidding the pitcher from covering first base on a ball hit to the first baseman (pitchers have been injured doing this, too)? Admittedly there are problems for American League pitchers running the bases and what happened to Chien-Ming Wang was indeed unfortunate, though perhaps, as I said before, that was due to inexperience; if we do away with the DH in the American League and the minor leagues that would prevent some of the the base-running problems that pitchers have, not that base-running problems and injuries are unique to pitchers.
I would also argue that there is more injury to the arms of pitchers in the American League, home of the DH, because they are never taken out for pinch-hitters, making it more likely their arms will wear out sooner. And, of course, a DH is a philosophical intrusion into one of the things that makes baseball so beautiful, the balance between hitting and fielding. Let us hope the steroid era is over and pitchers can relax somewhat -- now that not everyone is hitting home runs -- and practice their bunting and hitting occasionally.
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