I'm just wondering. The AL has a designated hitter, while in the NL the pitcher bats. Why is this? Just for change? What brought this idea on that the pitchers should bat / there should be a designated hitter?
2007-06-15 11:39:32 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Baseball
Believe it or not, a form of the designated hitter rule had been suggested as early as the 1880s. david93022 actually got it right about the 1960s. Mickey Mantle's career was obviously winding down. Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays looked like contenders for the lifetime home run record, and baseball was generally suffering from lack of offense and NFL popularity.
Al Lopez managed the Chicago White Sox, a team with one of the great pitching staffs of all time, but who came in 2nd to the New York Yankees over and over again because he did not have ONE consistent hitter. He DID have Smokey Burgess -- the Babe Ruth of pinch hitters -- but he could only use him once in a game. Lopez suggested a designated PINCH hitter -- a guy who could pinch hit more than once. Each time he'd hit, someone would have to come out of the game, but then a team could use a good hitter more than once.
Unfortunately, Lopez was still managing when baseball began to seriously consider the rule, and even though he was not managing when the rule came into effect, he could very well have been rehired by someone. So baseball gave us the DH rule we have now.
I'm an AL fan. I hate the DH rule. HATE it. Perhaps now that Lopez is dead, we could try his rule. Maybe even the NL would like it. Strategy would stay the same and even be enhanced. Think of the double switch with a DPH. It could get wild.
Anyway, I'd rather have real baseball. DPH or no DH at all.
2007-06-15 12:30:28 · answer #1 · answered by Sarrafzedehkhoee 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Pitchers hit in both leagues until 1973, when the American League, for fear that the game needed more offense, set baseball back by adding the designated hitter. I think it has weakened pitchers everywhere for a number of reasons. First, now that pitchers don't hit, until they make a National League team, they don't know how a hitter thinks up there, which could be a real asset when they pitch themselves. Second, pitchers now tend to be babied and are not seen as equal physically to the players in the starting lineup.
I say just like the aluminum bat is becoming a nice idea heading for the scrap heap of baseball history, the DH should soon follow.
2007-06-15 19:43:31 · answer #2 · answered by Patrick M 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good topic! NL fan all the way right here. Its funny too because in Little League throughout highschool, pitchers were the studs of the team. In every little league team i was on the pitcher hit homers, stole bases and even played multiple positions. But when they get to and beyond college their hitting becomes nonexistant. Big ups SP-Hong Chih Kuo for that homerun-batflip the other day. GO DODGERS!
2007-06-15 12:03:41 · answer #3 · answered by bonesiown 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the dh rule was actually started as an experiment in 1972 that the american league decided to keep. the nl never signed on to the idea. before 72 all pitchers batted
2007-06-15 17:50:22 · answer #4 · answered by ohio87 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They want more offense in the AL. But I'm an NL guy, I like the strategy that comes with having the pitcher bat.
2007-06-15 11:42:45 · answer #5 · answered by Andrew Noselli 3 · 7⤊ 0⤋
convinced, once the Cubs win the international series. Haaaaa! There had extra suitable no longer be!!! The DH is ALL about the Benjamins, protecting vast adult adult males with undesirable knees interior the game some extra years so the Union can make funds. The NL is the MANLY league - none of this specific hitters. ALL NL gamers are specific hitters, mutually with the pitchers! pass CARDINALS!!!
2016-10-18 22:02:30 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The NL isn't as lame as the AL.
It was the AL that decided to come up with the DH, to add more offense. But it takes away from the strategy of the game.
If you play a position, you should have to hit.
2007-06-15 11:42:52 · answer #7 · answered by pincollector 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
it was started in the AL some time I think in the 60's
because they had alot of aging & semi injured stars
that could hit but couldnt play defense anymore
so they invented the DH spot
not sure why other than tradition that the NL dosent have it
2007-06-15 11:44:30 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Because they wanted to be different (A.L) from the N.L back when they were not even assioted with each other, the A.L was trying to attract big name pitchers by saying all you have to do is pitch.
2007-06-15 13:17:06 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
NL fans need something to justify their sense of smug superiority, since on-field results don't do much there.
2007-06-15 12:56:42 · answer #10 · answered by Chipmaker Authentic 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋