Call me a purist.Sue me. My beloved Colorado Rockies are opening interleague play tonight with a visit to an American League team. The Twins lead their division, too. Could that be because they play a different game up there? You know what I mean. The pitchers don’t bat.
Don’t feel like I’m rocking your sensibilities here. I’m merely stating a preference and why. I think the pro-Designated Hitter (DH) folks are on the defensive regarding baseball’s rule change in 1973 because FOREVER it was always the way it is today in the National League: pitchers bat. It’s the DH folks who changed the game and they’re responsible for that. Well, big deal. They shouldn’t feel any more defensive about that than I do about the size of hot dog I buy at the stand.
In researching this post, I discovered that as recently as the last couple of years the National League revisited the DH rule for this 2017 season. The vote was postponed and people aren’t generally bringing it up again. When fabulous (and very expensive) pitchers Adam Wainwright (Cardinals) and Max Scherzer (Nationals) were injured while batting in 2015, there seemed to be a groundswell of support for a rule change to bring the DH to the National League.
Other baseball rules have changed over the years. The pitching rubber is now further away from home plate than when the game was first played over a hundred years ago. Heck, even Babe Ruth advocated for a DH rule when he was playing.
I played basketball in high school and now I don’t recognize that game in the college and certainly the pro ranks. Hint: It’s supposed to be a non-contact sport. “Traveling” was called as an infraction for taking more than two steps after picking up your dribble. The refs don’t call that anymore. It’s not the same game I remember. I don’t go to those.
I guess it all depends upon what you come to the park to see. If you want to see a great pitcher, you likely don’t care a wit about his batting average. If you also want to see great offense, then the DH might seem to be an easy pill to swallow that would help both pitchers and your desire to see offense.
I go to a baseball game to see baseball. If the Rockies lose, it’s a shame. But I want to see the position players play defense and the pitchers to throw strikes and the hitters to hit—all of them. Give up on the pitchers’ batting averages if you want. I prefer the stability of baseball the way it has always been played. Pitchers can be injured on the mound as freakishly as they can at the plate. No one ever wants to see that.
But to give up on a standard just because you can’t ever meet the standard, or it’s just too hard, or you don’t care about the standard anymore sounds too much like what’s going on in the culture outside of the ballpark. And I come to a baseball game to get away from all of that.