Recently, I listed my view of the newer rules in baseball (I have opinions about football, but that's a story for a different blog post). I have help strong opinions about baseball rules for a while and one which I have been against for a long time (in either league) is the designated hitter rule. Now that it has infiltrated the National League, I fear that its insidious nature will begin to infect the game as a whole.
Baseball is a chess match, slow and minute. The pace should be comfortable until it needs to be otherwise. The tension is often subtle and a result of the limited roster and the fact that the players play both offense and defense. The direct competition is (or was) highlighted by the face off of the pitchers, one pitching and one at bat, until the situation is reversed. In football, when does the quarteback of one team confront the QB of the other? Football fields two separate teams per side: the offense of one competes against the defense of the other. Offenses never meet, nor do defenses. Two simultaneous games are being played. Two separate quarterbacks are passing in the night (or mid afternoon).
But baseball requires that the players do double duty and see each other on both sides of the ball, and this should include pitchers. All players contribute to both phases of the team's efforts. The designated hitter upsets this balance (unlike the momentary pinch hitter or runner) as in the DH situation, one player is only playing offense and one is only there for defense. So we lose both the interaction between pitchers (I mean, in what sense is a game QB 1 vs. QB 2? It isn't. But when pitchers have to bat, they are more fully invested in the battle) and the full involvement of all players in the entire of the game.
What's next, official pitchers? Dead Fields?
Get rid of the DH and let the players play.
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