30 Years of a Bad Idea
It was January 11, 1973, that the American League announced [1] it would implement the Designated Hitter rule as an experiment. Here we are, thirty years hence ñ Bud Seligís American League Milwaukee team now plays in the National League, Bud Selig is somehow still the Acting Commissioner For Life, and Bud Selig is the only owner of a baseball team with more years at it than Yankee owner George Steinbrenner. Yes, The Boss and his partners bought the Yanks from CBS on January 3, 1973. Bud Selig bought The Brewers two years prior to Steinbrenner joining the fold.
Golly gee, well, Selig doesnít really own his team anymore. For a few years it was in the hands of a disinterested neutral party, that being Seligís daughter. Howís that for putting distance, space, and impartiality in an incontrovertible manner? Since becoming Acting Commissioner For Life, his shares of the team have been in a trust for some time. Read all about Budís cunning stunts, his honesty, his credibility as a disinterested party in this column [2]. If you are a Baseball fan, reading Ken Rosenthal [3] in The Sporting News is a year-round must!
What is good, if anything, about the DH? The obvious, of course: it keeps aging hitters in the game a little longer, it enables sluggers with lesser gloves to excel, and it gives the fans more home runs to enjoy. I think. There are a ton of Baseball bloggers who are deeply into stats, so check them out to corroborate ñor disproveóthat one.
What is bad about the DH? Do you have a week? It eliminates managerial strategy, it removes the Pitcher from the line-up, making them less the total player than any other position player (the DH is not a position, it is an artificial construct), it reduces the position players by one from the 25 man roster. It slows down the game. Yep. My observation is that DHs tend to be the slowest of all, preening and pulling and going through all sorts of gyrations and rituals between pitches.
Some Baseball blogger, probably one that would make me seem like barely a fan at all, has probably conducted some scientific study on the ìtime at-batî issue, and will let us all know if my allegation that DHs are time-wasters is a proven fact, or just a casual observation.
Speaking of Baseball bloggers, hereís one to check out: Bronx Banter [4]. Stumbled upon this while reading Baseball Junkie [5], a sort of compendium of semi- or non-professional writers, all about the great game. If one had nothing to do for weeks on end, one could spend most or all of that time checking out all the Baseball blogs listed on a sidebar there. A link from one of them brought me over to Bronx Banter. Check out what Alex Belth ( the apparent author I think thatís his name, although another link on the site seems to indicate that it is written by someone named Aaron. Who knows?!) has to say [6] about newly elected, soon to be inducted Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.
Thereís also a blog with a great name: Only Baseball Matters [7]. Okay, sure, maybe it is a play on words, but I took it as a statement of fact.
Some of these Baseball bloggers make me feel like an old fart. They talk about being children when Danny Tartabull and Don Mattingly were on the Yankees. Wow, my sonís favorite two Yankees when he was about 4 years old! Now heís a teenager and these bloggers talk about when my son was four like it is ancient history. Clearly I am closer in age to Peter Gammons than to K-Rod (please, you must remember him, Francisco Rodriguez, the Cinderella Story pitcher [8] on the Angels, called up in September, pitching in the World Series in October!).
Thereís good news, though, on this day, the anniversary of the acceptance of the DH, an experiment turned into an ongoing position. Here it is: only 34 days until Spring Training opens for pitchers and catchers.
Yes, we may be in the heart of Winter. Here in New York both days this weekend will be bring about temperatures below freezing. More snow will fall, there will be ice, days one must wear layers, turtlenecks, gloves, wool sweaters. But each passing day moves us that much closer to Spring Training, and then the end of March, when the great game resumes, the regular season begins.
Ah, what a pleasant thought, makes me forget that a few lines above I felt like an old fart. Baseball! What a pleasant thought on a Winterís night.