Like it or not, NL designated hitters limber up
Before all the self-proclaimed purists forecasting the destruction of baseball strategy and the very sanctity of the sport as we know it go berserk bemoaning the inclusion of a designated hitter in the National League this season, remember this:
In a most remarkable October full of huge momentum swings, the pivotal blow that decided last year’s World Series was delivered by, yep, the NL DH.
OK, that clang resonating off the right field foul screen at Minute Maid Park — courtesy of Howie Kendrick’s home run in Game 7 for the visiting Washington Nationals — probably won’t drown out the wailing of longtime National League fans over the plan to play this virus-delayed season with a (gasp!) DH in both circuits.
And it certainly won’t quell the debate that’s raged since April 6, 1973, when Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees stepped to the plate at Fenway
Park as Major League Baseball’s first DH (and drew a bases-loaded walk from Luis Tiant).
To many NL fans, the simple scribble of “DH” on the lineup card sullies the whole stadium. To lots of AL fans, the mere sight of a pitcher touching a Louisville Slugger is a total affront to the diamond.
No matter, that’s part of the proposal MLB owners are making to players — a full-time DH in the National League, same as the AL. This year, only.
Jim Riggleman has managed and coached in each league and seen both sides.
“During this abbreviated season I’m OK with it,” he wrote in an email Monday.
“In general, I think the NL game is a much better game. The pitcher’s AB is not the point. It’s all the ramifications that the pitcher hitting has on the strategy of the game. More interesting game and tougher game to manage with pitcher hitting,” he said.