[nerfxerks]

Mikeyt3 Wrote:After watching Tim Wakefield, a former National Leaguer, trying to hit on Saturday there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the DH weakens the inherent strategy of the game and overall skills of players in favor of low-attention span fans who need more Offense to keep their flitting interests. Pretty sad. Baseball is like a Chess game...each pitch is important and to substitute power for dynamics just helps to make the case for the lower-browed aspects of the modern American sports mentality (bang, crash, blood, fight, drool). This is why there isn't a clock or instant replay or whistles or absurdly overused penalty flags. Baseball is a thing of beauty in its execution and it has been tainted since the DH was installed. It is nothing short of a monstrosity of basic fundamentals to watch an Interleague game in a National League park. The DH should be scrapped as it hinders the proper use of the rules as well as the every day player management.

I hate the DH. It ruins the strategy of the game... a less talented team can outplay a better one in the NL, where it is far more unbalanced in the American League.

[chad138]

Just saw this on espn, made me laugh pretty hard.

[PrescottSportsCards]

mccabed Wrote:I never understood the baseball purists who say "this is how baseball is supposed to be played". Why exactly?

The strategy? Yeah - that double-switch really has me tuning in. Should the pitcher bunt or should we pinch hit for him? Wow - revetting stuff right there.

Bottom line - pitching is such a specialized task that it makes no sense whatsoever to water it down by requiring these guys to do other things that quite frankly they suck at. Let's have placekickers in football also have to play on offense and defense while we're at it. Hitting is a specialized skill as well and requires constant repetition. Pitchers pitch once every 5 days. Do the math.

Who would you rather pay $100 to see hit 4 times in a game? David Ortiz or Jon Lester?

This is called a fan of the American League.

[smfiv]

ballerskrip Wrote:They rarely take BP, they get 5% of the at bats at everyday players who GET PAID TO HIT, yet they have a better avg, obp, etc then the "professional" hitters.

skrip

Sample sizes. Doubtful they could do that over 600+ ABs.

NL baseball is better. I've always felt the DH was cheating the game. Oh, you have a guy that can't hit? Just put in someone who can....

[Hevy]

"I'm not an advocate of the Designated Hitter Rule; I'm only an advocate of seeing the truth and telling the truth. What the truth comes down to here is a question of in what does strategy reside? Does strategy exist in the act of bunting? If so the Designated Hitter Rule has reduced strategy. But if strategy exists in the decision about when a bunt should be used, then the DH rule has increased the differences of opinion which exist about that question, and thus increased strategy...[the research shows] that there is more of a difference of opinion, not less, in the American League." - Bill James in The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (1986)

"Everyone in the world disagrees with me, including some managers, but I think managing in the American League is much more difficult for that very reason (having the designated hitter). In the National League, my situation is dictated for me. If I'm behind in the game, I've got to pinch hit. I've got to take my pitcher out. In the American League, you have to zero in. You have to know exactly when to take them out of there. In the National League, that's done for you." - Jim Leyland

[chromerooks15 (bmb miggy man)]

Couldn't agree with OP more.

[corybastian8]

Not a fan of the DH myself, but I'm also a fan of an NL so that might make me atleast a little biased

Of course the DH does allow washed up players to go to the AL and just do nothing but hit since they are no longer capable of playing the field well enough...

[neonstatus]

jmh5434 Wrote:...if a pitcher can't run the bases without getting hurt then he has some issues.

Hank made himself sound pretty stupid when he said that. Wang should not have been injured running around the bases, it's definitely not the National leagues fault. Its nice that the National league still bats their pitchers, and the American league has the DH. This gives pitchers who hit well a chance to pitch and hit, and pitchers who don't hit well (and are out of shape) a place to sit and watch.

[Section Champs]

ballerskrip Wrote:

Section Champs Wrote:

The BGS & PSA9 Collector, ThoseBackPages Wrote:

Hevy Wrote:expensive starting pitchers have no business hitting anymore.
the national league is the only league in professional baseball that doesnt use a DH.

I guess AL pitchers arent athletes then?

Most pitchers aren't really athletes...

ONe of the most MORONIC things I have read on these boards in a long time! To be able to repeat your delivery over and over again, to pitch with precision, to be able to hit AND pitch, to be able to pitch on a downhill mound, and to keep coming back for more every 5th after beating your body to shredds the previous outing, that's an athlete.

Oh, and do you know that a large majority of pitchers in the MLB were their high school teams shortstop?

I get the biggest laugh watching pitchers hit, the good ones. Like Hampton, or Owings, or Carlos Zambrano. They rarely take BP, they get 5% of the at bats at everyday players who GET PAID TO HIT, yet they have a better avg, obp, etc then the "professional" hitters.

skrip

First off, you said you played college baseball, so obviously you've heard the phrase, that's why he's a pitcher. Me saying most pitchers aren't athletes was somthing like that, it was more of a joke statement. And saying most pitchers were the high school shortstops is a joke. A joke, most high school ball is a joke. Yea they may have played short, but the reason was probably they were the best player on the team. If they were so good at short, they'd play it at the next level, which they don't and which is why they pitch. I play college baseball right now, and I hear that phrase practically everyday. Ever watch a pitcher shag BP? There are the some who, like you said, played SS and could play dual sided, but then there are the ones who are just pathetic. So honestly, don't say it was the most moronic thing you ever heard, because it's said all the time.

[Zach]

sbarnes41 Wrote:Even worse than dad

He is definitely worse than his father.