Quote:
Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich
That is my biggest gripe with pitchers hitting, or more accurately, simulating someone attempting to hit. It has become almost unbearable to watch and frustrating to watch two outs and men on base die because you know with a high degree of certainty what is going to happen.
Pitchers OBP is just over 15%. Sports is not fun when the outcome is almost predetermined.
Part of the job of the organization running professional sports sports is improving the entertainment quality of the product. Having a DH does not.
I think it is time the NL strongly considering adopting the rule as well. Offense has been falling for a variety of reasons and if further decreases I could see the DH being brought up as something to increase run production again.
Another significant issue is that the players union is strongly for the DH since it creates 15 more jobs at starters level money and extends the careers of older players and gives team more option to call up from the minors and helps reduce older players blocking younger players since you can play the younger player at the DH or move the existing player to the DH.
It also gives you another platoon option so you can have two players benefit. Or you could even have strange multi player platoons where a player plays in the field a few games a week and is at the DH.
Having a player in the field may be of benefit against certain pitchers or in certain parks.
Finally, when the next CBA rolls around it will be a bargaining chip. The owners will be willing to give up on the DH as a concession for something else.
Plus it is even really not all bad for owners. A DH has the potential to be a star player who can move tickets and merchandise.
At this point in baseball there are just too many positive arguments for the DH and no enough negative arguments and most of those start with 'tradition' or 'I don't enjoy it'
I say this with all do respect, but the sport is not just for you any longer. Baseball desperately needs to makes its average fan age younger and this could be a small way of doing that.
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This ain't right......
1) Did you ever stop to think that maybe the extensive use of the DH in all levels below the majors is THE cause for pitchers' hitting to not be as good as it was?
2) I agree wholeheartedly with the part of your statement that I bolded, though I think maybe you are not saying what you meant to say..... Pitchers are maybe a little less than half as good at hitting than the regulars, but when 1 of them does something great with the bat, it is MORE than twice as entertaining.
3) I think there are enough die-hard anti-DH'ers in the NL to prevent it from being adopted anytime soon. I really think it more likely the AL will abandon it, though I don't think that is very likely either.
4) Not one argument for the DH is wholly "positive"; they all have their flip-side of negative side-effects.
5) I did not realize it was wrong for me to not like something because I do not enjoy it......
6) My personal opinion on the issue has nothing to do with tradition. There are many traditional things in baseball I would gladly do away with; I am no stick in the mud. My objection has almost 100% to do with the fact that it is artificial. I almost always prefer the natural over the artificial in just about anything in life. Arbitrary things always stick in my craw. I like pitchers hitting, but a more natural implementation of the DH rule would have been to just skip the pitcher's spot in the order. The fact that a DH is used instead is based almost 100% on the fact that a 9-man lineup is traditional. By your own logic that it is not fun to see the less adept hitters bat, then the DH should not just bat for the pitcher, but should bat for everyone. Let's just put our best hitter up there every time. He can be pinch-run for if he gets on base and can then bat again. Wouldn't it be more "fun" to watch Joey Votto hit 40 times a game rather than only 4 or 5? Then I would not ever have to witness the other wanna-be's in our lineup....
7) One of the strongest allures of baseball is the joy of witnessing uniqueness. And the DH rule removes one of the ways uniqueness could find its way into the game. If they had the DH rule since the get go, we'd have no Rick Wise no-hitter/homer combo, Dave McNally grand slam or John Smiley 4-hit day. And who would have ever found out Babe Ruth could hit?