“I’d be against the DH if it weren’t for Edgar Martinez,” says my colleague and diehard Seattle fan, Joe Beatty.
His statement pretty much exemplifies the biggest problem with the DH spot: it creates an unfair advantage for the few teams who have good hitters who are so bad in the field that they can’t find a spot on the diamond.
Who knows why these “good” designated hitters can smack 100-mph fastballs while they can’t catch pop flies, but a select few of these athletic savants do exist, and some teams are lucky enough to take advantage of these one-trick ponies.
No other sport has ever made such a drastic move to accommodate athletes with a limited skill set before. Actually, that’s not true-the infamous “All-Time QB” position for slow kids in childhood pick-up football games is very similar.
Imagine if soccer teams had “headerers” who were allowed to be off-sides if they only used their heads. Carson Daly might finally land another job. A “headerer,” for all intents and purposes, would be about as ludicrous as a designated hitter. Edgar Martinez is one of the few examples of a player who might not have made the big leagues without the benefit of the position (Editor’s note: Edgar Martinez played five full seasons at third base).
It’s not as if we’d be depriving ourselves of much if we got rid of the DH. No Edgar Martinez? Sorry Beatty, but I can deal with that. Who’s telling his or her grandkids about the time he or she saw Chili Davis play?
NASCAR drivers are equally athletic, and designated hitters are single-handedly responsible for my mom’s perception that baseball players are all fat slobs.
Pitchers may be equally obese, you might argue, but at least they take their lard asses out to the field.
Hurlers may not hit very gracefully, but their failings have never led to anything but good humor.
Plus, they sort of answer the question, “I wonder just how hard it is to hit that little white laser beam,” for the common fan at home.
Also, in a sport that has lost a lot of credibility recently, designated hitters have done nothing to improve the public’s perception of baseball as an ongoing home run exhibition.
Does the AL really need more offense? Do we really need to wait every 15 minutes while a team’s eighth pitcher of the game gets ready to face a crappy lefthander in the 8-hole, without any consequences to the lineup card?
In NL games, managing decisions take on increased weight. The term “chess match” is used more in baseball than it is in actual chess matches, but there are certainly more managerial variables without the DH.
The lineup-shuffling adds at least some degree of intrigue to help pass three and a half hours of what is essentially an elaborate game of catch.
The DH was created to instill more offense during a weak-hitting era, and it has overstayed its welcome.
Chris Bellamy’s a Red Sox fan, so he’s obviously in favor of David Ortiz not having to move a muscle when he’s not cranking out game-winning home runs. That can only be expected.
I speak instead for every fan who would love to see Ortiz running at full sprint to catch a foul pop-up 12 feet or so from first base or watch Randy Johnson take his anorexic Undertaker act to the batter’s box again.
Abner Doubleday clearly had an excellent sense of humor, and baseball ought to show its forefathers some respect.
