Pat Benson
Wednesday afternoon I was busy refreshing Twitter to follow the NBA trade deadline and College Football National Signing Day, uhh I mean I was busy at work when a substantial piece of sporting news broke. Major League Baseball and the MLBPA are discussing rules changes to speed up the game including making the Designated Hitter universal for both American and National Leagues.
As a millennial, I want the pace of the game to speed up and I’m in favor of almost every proposal to do so. Pitch clocks, limited mound visits, bullpen carts, you name it and I probably support it. There is however one major exception, and that is implementing the DH in the National League.
The American League implemented the DH in 1973, thanks to the colorful and notorious Oakland Athletics Owner Charlie O. Finley. Finley looked for new ways of attracting fans, and pioneered ideas like brightly colored uniforms, live mascots, and the DH. Besides rubbing everyone from The Beatles to his own players the wrong way, Finley’s goofy ideas still have ramifications to this day.
Statistics show that the American League has dominated the National League in interleague play, all-star games, and World Series. Every winter when front offices work on their roster, American League teams have a built-in advantage of one extra star player. But this column isn’t here to complain about sour grapes, it’s to help protect the integrity of our national pastime.
With the direction in which baseball is heading, more power hitters only make the game more monotonous. Fans don’t need any more hitting specialists who are engineered only to strikeout or hit a homerun. Fans need more strategy, more small-ball, more surprises.
As I close in on the age of 30, few things in baseball excite me more than the surprise of a pitcher getting a hit and running the base paths. Throw a coat on the man and let him play the game. Has MLB already forgotten the excitement and curiosity surrounding Shohei Ohtani when he broke into the league last season?
Additionally, baseball has and always will be a thinking mans’ game. National League Managers have to calculate pitch count and the upcoming opponent’s lineup, and then balance their own bullpen and bench players. Strategies like double switches and pinch runners test the mind and body.
The news on Wednesday came as a real downer on what would have been Babe Ruth’s 124th birthday. However late on Friday, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said these changes wouldn’t take place until at least 2022. So I encourage you to join this just and noble cause, and just say no the DH in the National League.
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Pat Benson is a fixture at local high school sporting events. He has been a sideline reporter, P.A. announcer, and radio personality. Tweet him @Pat_Benson_Jr.