The History of the Designated Hitter: Just Say No!

Baseball is king! To the casual, adrenaline seeking sports fan baseball often sits at the bottom rung of favorites. But to the sports purists baseball is number one. Major League Baseball and pure may not seem like the perfect fit. In decades past the game has certainly been tainted. Steroids? HGH? Cheating? No, I'm talking about the DH! MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred seeks to add another blemish to the game with a push for bringing the designated hitter to the National League in 2017. 
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43 years ago on January 11, 1973 the owners of 24 Major League Baseball teams voted to allow teams in the American League to use a designated pinch-hitter that would bat for the pitcher, while still allowing the pitcher to stay in the game. Advocates for the DH have always desired to take the bat out of the hands of poor hitting pitchers, to add more offense to the game and ultimately to attract more fans. Ironically one of the earliest advocates for the DH was none other than Philadelphia baseball legend Connie Mack, who proposed the idea in 1906. In 1928, then National League President John Heydler revived the idea, but it was again rejected. 

"Ironically one of the earliest advocates for the DH was none other than Philadelphia baseball legend Connie Mack, who proposed the idea in 1906."

At the time of the AL's adoption of the DH in 1973, the American League took a backseat to the higher scoring, bigger attraction National League. The NL resisted the change and the leagues decided, for the first time in history, to play under different rules. It was the biggest rule change in baseball since the foul ball started being called a strike. What started as a three-year experiment for baseball and the American League, turned into a permanent rule change. 

As much as the rule change in 1973 maddened the baseball purists, the idea of adding it to the NL in 2017 makes those individuals just as mad! Myself included! Baseball is a game of tradition.

"For most baseball purists, strategy is what makes the game
​so special and so intriguing." 

Why I say #NONLDH:

• If not for anything else, NO DH in the NL so we can keep watching pitchers like an overweight and un-athletic Bartolo Colon attempt to run around the bases while holding onto his helmet! If that isn't pure entertainment, I don't know what is!
• Baseball is a game of strategy. For most baseball purists, strategy is what makes the game so special and so intriguing. The DH removes A LOT of that strategy. Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who spent two decades coaching in the AL, opposes bringing the DL to the NL. He is the ultimate strategist skipper.
• Tradition. The NL, affectionately known as The Senior Circuit, has been around for 150 years (25 years before the AL). This is the way the game has always been played and should continue to be played. In recent years baseball has been trying too hard to "change the game" and "make it more exciting." Please just leave it alone. 
• Different rules is more exciting. Honestly having the DH in the AL and not in the NL makes for more intriguing and more exciting matchups during Interleague play and World Series play. 

Let us know your thoughts, use #NONLDH to tell us how you feel!

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