National League — Designated Hitter Would Spell the End of Sacrifice Bunts

As America’s national pastime approaches its season finale, rumor has it that Major League Baseball may inflict the ultimate, unthinkable indignity on the dwindling ranks of sports traditionalists: bringing the designated hitter to the National League. The designated hitter, or DH, hits for the pitcher, who is typically less offensively skilled, and began in the American League in 1973 in an effort to boost attendance and scoring — not a crazy idea for professional soccer. This innovation divided baseball devotees, who found themselves on either side of a chasm as wide as that between Catholics and Protestants, Sunnis and Shiites, and Bitcoin and Bitcoin Classic. For the past 45 years, even as baseball purists have suffered through instant replays, the expansion of wild-card playoffs, and a new rule prohibiting the catcher from blocking home plate if he’s not in possession of the ball, expansion of the DH to the National League remained baseball’s Third Rail.

That the executives in charge of the greatest game known to man would consider such an act of apostasy now is not terribly shocking. While pitchers at the plate have provided some great moments in recent years — Bartolo Colon smacking his first home run at the ripe age of 42, for example — the players’ union supports anything that means another highly paid roster spot. Another consideration is that baseball’s popularity lags among younger fans. The game is far too slow for the selfie generation, whose attention span runs in seconds, not hours.

BJ

About the Author

Brett Joshpe

Brett Joshpe is an attorney, entrepreneur, and author in Manhattan. He was formerly the CEO of a sports technology company.

As America’s national pastime approaches its season finale, rumor has it that Major League Baseball may inflict the ultimate, unthinkable indignity on the dwindling ranks of sports traditionalists: bringing the designated hitter to the National League. The designated hitter, or DH, hits for the pitcher, who is typically less offensively skilled, and began in the American League in 1973 in an effort to boost attendance and scoring — not a crazy idea for professional soccer. This innovation divided baseball devotees, who found themselves on either side of a chasm as wide as that between Catholics and Protestants, Sunnis and Shiites, and Bitcoin and Bitcoin Classic. For the past 45 years, even as baseball purists have suffered through instant replays, the expansion of wild-card playoffs, and a new rule prohibiting the catcher from blocking home plate if he’s not in possession of the ball, expansion of the DH to the National League remained baseball’s Third Rail.

That the executives in charge of the greatest game known to man would consider such an act of apostasy now is not terribly shocking. While pitchers at the plate have provided some great moments in recent years — Bartolo Colon smacking his first home run at the ripe age of 42, for example — the players’ union supports anything that means another highly paid roster spot. Another consideration is that baseball’s popularity lags among younger fans. The game is far too slow for the selfie generation, whose attention span runs in seconds, not hours.