Just about everyone seems to have an opinion about Major League Baseball’s possible need for realignment. From numerous sports radio talking heads to that guy at the end of your local sports bar — they all seem to have a plan.
But what they often forget to discuss is that many of these realignment schemes are going to necessitate a look at the designated hitter position and what role it should have in baseball. A debate does, however, rumble on beneath the surface of the game — popping up every once in awhile to rear its polemical head. Is it important to unify the National League and American League under the same rule? Should we eliminate the DH altogether? Expand it to the National League?
I’ve been a Yankees fan as long as I can remember, so the idea of a DH in professional baseball has always been second-nature to me (the DH entered the American League in 1973). However, the idea of the DH in baseball in general does not necessarily feel so inherent to the game — at least to this humble sports commentator.
Growing up, baseball was my sport. Starting with tee-ball at some absurdly young age like 4 or 5, and up through the high school level, I spent all of my springs and summers on the diamond. Yes, I followed the game at the professional level intently and was aware of the illustrious history of the game — but to me, baseball was that game I practiced hours every day for as long as I could remember. It was thew game I studied and played, rather than the one I observed from afar.
This baseball, the baseball I identified as Baseball (with a capital “B”), was a game without a designated hitter. The pitcher had the same responsibilities as the rest of the team both defensively and offensively. This is how we all learn the game to start out. I wager that almost all current major league pitchers started out spending just as much time in the batting cage as they did on the mound.
This is just how we learn the sport, and the limitations that such defensive and offensive responsibilities impose are similar to those in other team sports. For example, in basketball it is a regular strategic decision to play a strong defensive player with major offensive weaknesses when needed. That player does not forego his inherent offensive responsibilities, however, he still has to work at them so he isn’t a liability on that side of the court. The same principle applies to most every sport, including most baseball before the professional level.
But in the American League of Major League Baseball we don’t make our pitchers hit. And while I understand the arguments for having a DH (more pop in the lineup, extend careers, limit injury, offensive potency, give players rest etc.) it doesn’t feel like Baseball, with a capital “B”, to me. You have to take the good with the bad in sports, indeed that is one of the things that makes team sports so interesting. It is these quagmires that managers and coaches find themselves in that create some of the more interesting decisions in sports strategy.
To further confuse the matter, the DH rule only exists in one of the two leagues. This wouldn’t matter if AL and NL teams didn’t play each other — but they do — and since Interleague play was born in the 1990’s, they play even more. When the St. Louis Cardinals of the NL and the Seattle Mariners of the AL play each other they are, in a sense, playing a different game. There are far too many subtleties involved in the strategy of having an extraordinarily weak hitter in or out of your lineup to make the argument that the teams are on equal playing fields. Neither team is really set up to be able to handle such games — let alone in the all-important world series where the rule changes from game to game.
If you’ve made it this far, you are most likely guessing that I am generally in favor of abolishing the DH in both leagues — and you would be right. But more important, in my opinion, is that we have a uniform rule across baseball. And given that I doubt the MLB Player’s Association would ever let a rule be created that abolished the DH (again, DH extends players careers, and without it some could lose a lot of money), it’s much more likely that if we see a change at all, we will see the DH installed in the National League.
Above all else, we have to make the game fair despite my own personal ideas (or anyone’s) of what baseball is or is not. If a big realignment does come to baseball in the near future, this sports writer hopes that Major League Baseball addresses the DH issue once and for all, and brings unity to the game.
Leave a Reply