Post by Blunashun on May 29, 2018 23:33:12 GMT
At the time they instituted this rule I was in favor of it. Aging stars like Billy Williams & Orlando Cepeda could prolong their illustrious careers by batting pretty much exclusively. Yeah. It sorta dumbed down the game. I figured there would be an explosion of complete games in the AL because of it. Tied 1-1 with a man on second & the pitcher's spot coming up. What do you do?
Then we had guys like Ron Blomberg. He was first generation DH. So we have a player so one dimensional he can only hit, & hit well versus righthanders? Doubts started to creep in. Are we spawning a generation of professional hitters & not baseball players?
After that came the flood of sub-.300 BA, 3,000 hit players. Al Kaline (who I always greatly respected) was the first. That used to be hallowed ground.
In ambled Bud Selig. This guy might go down as the greatest commissioner of all time, based solely on profits. He's also the idiot who got embarrassed in front of a hometown crowd during an All-Star game & decreed that from now on the league that wins the All-Star game has home field advantage in the World Series. As if one has ANYTHING to do with the other. If the AL won, then that means they have a DH four times out of seven, if it goes the limit. We got also inter-league play. We got teams switching divisions & even leagues. The lines were getting blurred. Why does the AL have a built in advantage by carrying an extra hitter?
As it's evolved though, we don't have Rafael Palmeiro types, who win Gold Gloves based on 20 something games in the field. AL managers more & more are using the DH rules to rest players. Give a hot hitter a day off clowning around in the dugout & eating jelly donuts instead of playing the field.
Now I'm just like, either BOTH leagues (who are playing against each other in the regular season anyway) have the rule or nobody has the rule. This probably explains the mindset of front office types like Friedman & Zaidi & their search for versatile players. If we have multiple guys, who can play multiple positions, then maybe we can carry an extra relief pitcher on tough stretches. So & so can fill in for that guy who got beaned last night.
Then we had guys like Ron Blomberg. He was first generation DH. So we have a player so one dimensional he can only hit, & hit well versus righthanders? Doubts started to creep in. Are we spawning a generation of professional hitters & not baseball players?
After that came the flood of sub-.300 BA, 3,000 hit players. Al Kaline (who I always greatly respected) was the first. That used to be hallowed ground.
In ambled Bud Selig. This guy might go down as the greatest commissioner of all time, based solely on profits. He's also the idiot who got embarrassed in front of a hometown crowd during an All-Star game & decreed that from now on the league that wins the All-Star game has home field advantage in the World Series. As if one has ANYTHING to do with the other. If the AL won, then that means they have a DH four times out of seven, if it goes the limit. We got also inter-league play. We got teams switching divisions & even leagues. The lines were getting blurred. Why does the AL have a built in advantage by carrying an extra hitter?
As it's evolved though, we don't have Rafael Palmeiro types, who win Gold Gloves based on 20 something games in the field. AL managers more & more are using the DH rules to rest players. Give a hot hitter a day off clowning around in the dugout & eating jelly donuts instead of playing the field.
Now I'm just like, either BOTH leagues (who are playing against each other in the regular season anyway) have the rule or nobody has the rule. This probably explains the mindset of front office types like Friedman & Zaidi & their search for versatile players. If we have multiple guys, who can play multiple positions, then maybe we can carry an extra relief pitcher on tough stretches. So & so can fill in for that guy who got beaned last night.