So, what's everyone's opinion here of the AL "pitchers don't hit" rule?

It would make sense to me that if you spend a gazillion times infinity dollars on a dude whose entire purpose it to throw the ball... i.e. his entire training, practice, focus etc. is dedicated soley to that action, that you wouldn't want to risk having him hit and blow out a shoulder or something. I mean, entirely different muscle group are developed, entirely different postures...why are you going to put this guy in the position to potentially destroy himself doing something that (let's be fair, here) in all likelihood he's gonna be teh sux0r at any damn way? :shrug:

Having said that, I do sorta understand the other side as well. Tradition and such.

This argument has been an endless source of heated barroom discussion for me for years...just wondering what your take is on it.

:hi:

It's changes the balance of baseball where a player's talent needs to be weighed between three different roles, hitting, pitching and fielding.

In basketball, should a team have a designated free throw shooter?

I guess football already has designated specialists, but that's not how baseball is supposed to be.

It's supposed to be a balance. Do you play the better hitter who's a weak fielder or the better fielder who's the weaker hitter.

Anyway, I'm against the DH.

I got about 42 seconds of sleep last night, and could NOT think of what the actual rule was called to save my sorry ass. :silly:

:D

It's for whimps.

As if the AL has been plagued with pitchers injured by going to bat like the rest of their mates. Put a bat in the hands of these primadonnas and if they're too scared to take a pitch then they can practice their bunting.

Hence, pitchers should hit.

The pitcher is almost an automatic out and a waste of time. There are a few pitchers that can hit but for every one of them there are a hundred that look like fools up at the plate. DH should be in both leagues.

Look back at some pitchers from the 20's to 50's and you'll see they weren't always so feeble.

You can check here.

www.baseball-reference.com

But they can't anymore. I figure why waste the batting order spot with someone who can't even be bothered to learn. Hell, a lot of the pitchers can't even bunt anymore. I'd rather see a slugger in there.

Pitchers have always been, as a rule, the worst hitters on the team - because they're pitchers, and train to pitch. Similarly, fielders make bad pitchers - they aren't trained to pitch.

As to Ye Olde Baseball Tymes, even a cursory glance at batting stats for pitchers show you that the number of good hitting ones are as few and far between as they are now.

AL Baseball is good with the DH.

NL Baseball is good without the DH.

Baseball is baseball, whether or not there is an automatic out at the bottom of the lineup or not. Both cases have their merit, and they both have good things to offer the game of baseball, and I wish the purists would acknowledge this.

get their panties in a wad about this.

:rofl:

The dh is for sissies! That, and money, is my only problem with baseball.

The intrigue of baseball is the strategy, knowing when to use certain players, weighing leaving a pitcher in vs. using a pinch hitter, etc. All that is gone with the DH.

I am a purist - but my team is in the AL

Is there an obligation to get the maximum number of runs for you? Why not have unlimited DH's so the shortstop can be a great defensive player who doesn't have to hit? What do you want? What is this, football? Or Econ 101? Must we have a DH because the economy depends on it once a pitcher is making a tenth of a billion dollars?

FYI, pitchers are not automatic outs. Collectively they bat something like .150.

The traditional way means more strategy.

That being said, the AL/NL divide is made more interesting by the DH, especially now that you have interleague play.

Next question

When I get bored with the DH, I'll switch to
the Giants for a while, then I'll switch back.

:P

I'm anti-DH in theory, and I always have been. But it doesn't matter. The AL ain't going back, so I just enjoy two brands of baseball and never mind the oddity of the DH anymore.

back in the 70's, run production was down, and attendance along with it. the AL changed the game to attract more fans, thus more concessions sales, and thus more revenue.

so, yes, they corrupted the game, and they corrupted it for corporate (although this was, strictly speaking, before the corporate ownership era), money-grubbing reasons.

can we talk about why domes and turf suck, too?

Wouldn't the same logic apply to a terrific power hitter who has the job of getting hits, homers and driving in runs. Why would the team risk him getting hurt in the field. (Infielders sprain ankles, take bad hops on the eye, outfielders pull hamstrings and hurt knees, etc.)

Why not have 8 really good defensive guys who can't hit play the field, a pitcher, and nine hitters. Then you've got a defense and an offense, and nobody would be at risk of getting hurt doing the thing for which they aren't best suited?

The logic has to stop somewhere right? Or not! My proposal (which i don't promote) makes no less sense than the DH. I know another argument is that "Who wants to see a pitcher hit?" Well, flipping that would call for "Who wants to see a terrific shortstop hit .205?" or "Who wants to see Sammy Sosa or Jeromy Burnitz play the outfield?"

If baseball is going to go to a system in which people only do what they're best at, and have total specialization, then it becomes football.

On Edit: One more note. Just going from recent past with the Cubs and White Sox, they've had over 20 injuries to pitchers. ONE was caused by something other than pitching!
The Professor

But I do agree it's not really how the game of baseball is suppose to be played. There has to be more strategy involved when pitchers are allowed to bat. I think MLB should have the DH or abolish it. I don't think that just one league (AL or NL) should have it or not. They should make it that both leagues have to have it or not.

I don't want to see pitchers hitting. Every other baseball league in the world has a DH. It makes for better baseball