40 years ago today - the first DH!

[El Supremo]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- On April 6, 1973, Ron (Boomer) Blomberg of the New York Yankees became the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history, facing Boston Red Sox right-handed pitcher Luis Tiant in his first plate appearance. Blomberg walked.

It takes baseball a long time to make rule changes, and not many are made. According to historian G. Richard McKelvey, the American League adoption of the designated hitter rule was the first major rule change since the National League legislated that a foul ball with two strikes on the batter would not result in a strikeout … in 1901. (The American League adopted that rule in 1903.)

Major League Baseball adopted Rule 6.10: “Any League may elect to use the Designated Hitter Rule,” which allows a hitter to “be designated to bat for the starting pitcher and all subsequent pitchers in any game without otherwise affecting the status of the pitcher(s) in the game.” Since the rule was adopted, almost all professional leagues, except the National League and the Nippon Professional Baseball Central League, use designated hitters. The near-universal adoption during the past 40 years has not lessened the debate among baseball cognoscenti of whether the rule is good for the game....

http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20130406/OPINION/130406006/Commentary-First-designated-hitter-plus-40-years

[malthaussen]

1. Yeah, I never was a big fan of the DH rule.

But people like runs. And you could argue it is a great opportunity for people who can't, you know, play baseball to make the team.

-- Mal

[KamaAina]

15. It has indeed extended the careers of many an aging slugger

see under Ortiz, David.

[madinmaryland]

2. One of the worst rule changes ever in baseball. Completely ruined the sanctity of the game.

[firenewt]

3. I worry baseball will go to a platoon system - offense and defense. No longer required to master

the entire skill set to play to THE GAME. Sad..........

[opiate69]

11. "Master the entire skill set"??

You mean like those monster-hitting pitchers?

[Yavin4]

4. "sanctity"? It's a game not a religion. All sports change rules over time.

There was no free substitution in football until a few decades ago. Don't see you bitching about that.

[El Supremo]

9. Some of us think that baseball IS a religion.

To me the DH is akin to the Protestant Reformation. And, of course, the Yankees are Satan and Bud $elig is the Antichrist.

[TZ]

7. I went to a game Wed night..

And saw Gio Gonzales hit the only HR of that game. Screw the DH! Love watching pitchers hit. Who knew that Strasburgs first award would be a silver slugger! Lol

[El Supremo]

10. Maybe it was because: "I felt like I was making love to my hand."

broadcaster Bob Carpenter of MASN:

Carpenter: "How were you feeling with the hook on a night when it's tough to have a touch pitch like that?"

Gio: "It was definitely difficult, especially with this cold weather. It was tough to get a grip. I felt like I was making love to my hand. Just one of those things where I was constantly trying to find some grip some how, some way — the rosin bag, whatever, licking the fingers, but it felt good after that."

[TZ]

12. Yeah that was a hilarious quote

Gotta love Gio, he's really funny

[radiclib]

5. The assumption at the time was that the leagues would agree within a few years

Whether or not it was successful in the AL, the DH would either exist in both leagues, or neither. That MLB has failed to make it uniform for both leagues for forty years and counting is an embarrassment to what was once the national pastime, and has all but rendered the World Series an annual joke.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. In Memorium for Baseball, once an outstanding thinking man's game

[center]

[/center][font size="1"]Jewish cemetery in Otwock (Karczew-Anielin) (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jewish_cemetery_Otwock_Karczew_Anielin_IMGP6721.jpg)
Photo by Nikodem Nijaki (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Nikodem_Nijaki)
(Creative Commons License, Attribution/Share Alike)

[El Supremo]

8. Hah!

Ron Blomberg called himself the Designated Hebrew.

[era veteran]

13. Leave it to the junior circuit to ruin baseball.

Barbarians.

[KamaAina]

14. A day which will live in infamy