More on the DH
I thought baseball lovers here might be interested to read an excellent article on the Designated Hitter that appeared in yesterday's Boston Globe. It touches on virtually every aspect of the debate, and I will let it speak for itself, reserving comment except to say that the Boston Globe has some of the absolute best baseball writing anywhere, consistently, and even throughout the entire dead of winter. It's no accident that Peter Gammons comes from the Globe. Nick Cafardo, the author of this piece, writes a weekly full-page "Baseball Notes" article in each Sunday's edition, and the Red Sox are not the focus of the page. I encourage baseball lovers to look up the paper on Sunday's on the web.
Here's the article, reprinted in its entirety, and set off in another color to make a clear distinction between it and my comment above.
BASEBALL NOTE
DH topic continues to get batted around
By Nick Cafardo | May 30, 2010
DH or no DH? It has been the question for some 37 years.
?I see it remaining status quo for the foreseeable future,?? said commissioner Bud Selig from his Milwaukee office. ?It would take a cataclysmic event for us to change it. Now, if we started looking at possibly realignment, which we haven?t discussed seriously to this point, there would be discussion. But I would anticipate the status quo long after I?m gone from this office.??
The issue now is the relevancy of the position. For years, it was a haven for older players like Hall of Famers Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield, Carl Yastrzemski, and George Brett, who were able to tack on numbers to their totals.
Yet there seems to be diminishing returns for DHs. Teams are beginning to use the spot as a place to rest position players now and again. The Red Sox still employ David Ortiz as a full-time DH, but this is likely his last season in Boston. After that, depending on what happens with Victor Martinez in free agency, the position will likely be occupied by multiple players.
Vladimir Guerrero is giving the DH spot a boost with his huge season in Texas, and last year?s World Series MVP was a DH (Hideki Matsui). But for the most part, you wonder whether the spot is running out of oomph and usefulness.
The debates continue.
Fans defend their league. The National League can claim that its brand of baseball is the way the game should be played. The DH also can turn players into one-dimensional pieces. Toronto?s Adam Lind and Minnesota?s Jason Kubel are two DHs who should be playing defensive positions.
Others support the DH.
?I love the DH,?? said longtime baseball man Bill Lajoie, now a senior adviser with the Pirates. ?I love offense. I love runners on base as opposed to the pitcher hitting and having a wasted out.
?I wish the National League had the DH because it really reduces your roster because you have to make more pitching changes and your bench is restricted because you have to save your backup catcher, and your utility infielder is usually someone who can?t hit, so your roster is suddenly, for practical purposes, 22 or 23.??
There have been suggestions to give the DH a proper resting place. Use it for spring training, some say, so hitters can get their at-bats, or for the All-Star Game where fans come mostly to see offense (it will be used in All-Star Games starting this year).
Removing the DH could help the pace of games by eliminating older, base-clogging players who take a lot of pitches and prolong at-bats.
Of the owners who voted to adopt the DH, Selig is the only one remaining in the game. Back in 1973, attendance in the American League was sagging and the league needed something to create excitement. Selig, then the owner of the Brewers (who were then in the AL), remembers vividly former Red Sox general manager Dick O?Connell telling him, ?We?ve got to get the DH!??
?There are very few players who like to DH,?? said Jim Rice, who made 2,256 plate appearances (of a total 9,058) from the DH spot. ?If it went back to no DH, I don?t think anyone would be too unhappy about it. Players like to play in the field. When you can?t do it anymore, you retire. So many players just hang on and DH for a year or two.??
According to Selig, in all of his years as commissioner ? and even prior to that ? the DH issue has been split right down league lines. The American League loves it, the National League doesn?t.
?I like the dialogue on it,?? said Selig. ?It?s good for the sport. I?m always trying to find ways to make the sport better, and enjoy the conversation and debate that goes with it. But I have heard no compelling reason to do away with it.??
The New York Times did a story before the World Series last year examining the potential advantage AL teams had in using their regular DHs as opposed to the NL teams having to use one of their extra players to DH. In 86 games over 27 World Series, the NL DHs had a .254 average with 10 homers and 34 RBIs, while the AL DHs had a .237 average with 9 homers and 40 RBIs. The AL won 15 of the 27 Series.
Then Matsui stole the show.
Selig has a committee to study all baseball matters, and while the DH comes up once in a while, there will likely be no outrage about it until realignment jumbles the leagues together.
The Players Association endorses more jobs for the union, though the days of the $12 million DH like Ortiz are likely over. It would never support any measure to eliminate the DH in its entirety.
DH or no DH depends on your viewpoint and self-interest. Houston manager Brad Mills, whose offense has been pathetic, quipped, ?You might be asking the wrong guy. I came from the AL East, with powerful lineups, and would I like to see a DH who can hit on our team right now? I like the game without the DH, but when you need hitting, it looks awfully good.??
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