Baseball

» umpire - What do you think of the DH?

I want to know what you think of the Designated Hitter. Should the National League adopt it? Or should the American League drop it? Let me hear from you.

-- posted by umpire

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» James Lincoln Ray - What do you think of the DH?

In response to What do you think of the DH? posted by umpire:

Hey there umpire. Well, you picked a subject that I am very ambivalent about. I grew up as a fan of the American League, and I watched my first game in 1974. So the DH doesn't seem as offensive to me as it does to older fans, or to born-and-bred National Leaguers. I like that the DH provides more offense for the game in general, and that certain players, especially aging catchers and outfielders, can continue to play later into their careers (e.g. Mike Piazza).

On the other hand, the Designated Hitter does remove a lot of the strategy that makes baseball so much fun. In my opinion, the lack of a DH makes the job of a National League manager much harder than his AL brethren.

I still haven't given you an answer, though. In truth, I like the way things are right now. I like that fans of each league think they have the best system. I like that the NL is more of a "pitchers' league" and the AL is more of a "hitters league." Also, now that we have no more AL and NL Presidents, and now that we have interleague play, it's nice to have one fundamental difference left between our two Major Leagues.

Maybe I should write an article about this subject. What do you think?

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