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Designated Hitter Photo Gallery
Harold Baines
Frank Thomas
David Ortiz
Kyle Schwarber
Marcel Ozuna
Edgar Martinez
Jim Rice- Jim Rice
Hideki Matsui
Shohei Ohtani
Paul Molitor
Jorge Solar
The Designated Hitter Is Born, January 11, 1973!
“The pitcher who can’t get in there in the pinch and win his own game with a healthy wallop, isn’t more than half earning his salary in my way of thinking.” -Babe Ruth
…So said the great Bambino himself. And who am I to argue with the Babe? Well Babe, I guess it’s fair to say that most pitchers aren’t as good at hitting as you were!
Fifty-three years ago this week, the long-debated idea of allowing a position player to bat in place of the pitcher was finally voted into existence following an 8-4 favorable vote by the twelve American League owners. The so-called “Designated Hitter” was slated to be introduced in the upcoming 1973 baseball season on a three-year trial basis. The new rule applied to the American League only. At the time many felt that if the fans liked it, the National League would soon follow suit. As we all know that didn’t happen until 2022, forty-nine years later.
So on Opening Day of the 1973 season, April 6, 1973, the Yankees’ Ron Blomberg strode to the plate in a game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Facing Red Sox right-hand Luis Tiant, Blomberg walked on five pitches with the bases loaded in the first inning. With this at-bat, Blomberg officially became the first designated hitter in the history of the major leagues.
In the featured photo above, we see Ron Blomberg, the first DH. In the photo gallery are others who played a significant part of their careers as DH.
As somewhat of a baseball purist, and a National League fan, I had never warmed up to the DH. I was disappointed when I learned that the National League would throw in the towel and adopt the DH for the 2022 season. But I realize now that the battle is long over, and my opinion was in the minority. I’ve learned to live with it. I can even see the benefit of adding offense to the game, even if it does, in my view, take away from many of the game’s longtime strategies.
Those who favor the DH feel that, in addition to the added offense, it keeps some outstanding hitters in the majors longer after their fielding skills have diminished. Good arguments can be made on both sides of the debate. But, as I said, the battle is over and the “more offense” side won. So what’s the old saying? “Don’t cry over spilled milk”…or something like that! That seems to apply here.
In doing a little research about the Designated Hitter debate, I found that it can be traced all the way back to the 1890s, at the time of the merger of the National League and the American Association. It was again raised by Connie Mack in 1906, but at the time received little support. The idea resurfaced again in 1920 when National League president John Heydler made several attempts to introduce a 10th-man designated hitter to add more offense to the game. Serious momentum for the designated hitter was absent until the pitching dominance of the late 1960s, the so-called “Era of the Pitcher:
- In 1968, Bob Gibson led the major leagues with a live-ball era record 1.12 ERA.
- For the first time since 1908, the American and National Leagues had a collective batting average below .240.
- Carl Yastrzemski led the American League in hitting with only a .301 mark.
Drastic measures had to be taken…so after the season the height of the pitcher’s mound was reduced from 15 to 10 inches, and the upper limit of the strike zone was lowered from the top of a batter’s shoulders to his armpits. In addition, the idea of the DH was reintroduced as a way to add needed offense to the game.
Over the ensuing years, with the two leagues having different rules, problems arose during World Series, All-Star games, and interleague play. All that ended with the National League finally adopting the rule. Of course, back in 1973, no one could foresee the arrival of a pitcher with the talent of Shohei Ohtani. In 2021, this led to some previously unconsidered situations:
On April 4, 2021, an American League team voluntarily declined to use a designated hitter in their starting lineup for the first time since 1976, when the Los Angeles Angels placed starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani second in the batting order. This was also the first time since 1903 that a pitcher had been listed as the second hitter in the starting lineup. On June 23, 2021, Ohtani made history again when, for the first time, an AL team did not use the designated hitter and an NL team did. (1)
Well, before I end this little history of the DH, I’ll just throw in one more cliché that applies to baseball purists like me: “That’s water over the dam.” The National League adopted the DH and the game survived…Let’s all be happy about that!
We’d love to hear what you think about this or any other related baseball history topic…please leave comments below.
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from Google Search.
Background information and quote (1) edited from the Designated Hitter Wikipedia page
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