[QUOTE=John DiFool]
Imagine another sport where you have to do something even though you aren’t good at it at all.
[/QUOTE]
Pentathlon? Decathlon? Anybody who picks up a loose ball in football? Shaq trying to hit a freethrow?
[QUOTE=hajario]
Now the manager has to decide whether to leave in the pitcher or replace him with a pinch hitter. It makes the game more interesting. The DH was a mistake.
[/QUOTE]
It really doesn’t. If its before the 6th inning they almost always let the pitcher flail away, as Fugazi correctly described their efforts, otherwise they pinch hit. The modicum of strategy in no way offsets the endless rallies destroyed by the appearance of an incompetent pitcher trying to swing a bat. Although I feel for Bryan Ekers’s argument. Thats the only coherent argument against the DH I have ever heard.
[QUOTE=gonzomax]
I have often thought that since pitchers are only every 4th or 5th day active, a smart team would send their pitchers a few days early when on long trips . Completely logical.
[/QUOTE]
That actually is the normal practice already.
About the pinch-hitting stuff, few spectators would rather see the manager think than the hitter hit. Sorry, guys, it’s the entertainment biz, always has been.
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers]
I’m opposed to anything that makes the game longer than it already is. If anything, there should be more easy outs along the way
[/QUOTE]
I agree with this but I don’t think the DH is really the problem. What really lengthens games is the endless stepping out of the box and setting and resetting by pitchers. I think there should be some restrictions on timeouts and that there should be a pitch clock. Nothing makes baseball as boring as watching the interminable rituals of both hitters and pitchers between pitches. I say the pitcher should have 30 seconds to throw the goddamn ball and if the hitter isn’t ready, too bad for him. A pitch clock would make the game significantly faster and more entertaining. I would also make a rule that a hitter cannot step out of the box once he’s in his stance. If he does, he should be given a strike.
[QUOTE=John DiFool]
Interleague records (AL perspective):
2007 137-115
2006 154-98
2005 136-116
[/QUOTE]
That means absolutely nothing in terms of this thread, since AL teams drop the DH when they’re in NL parks and vice versa.
In fact, didn’t he have such a deal when he pitched for the Astros?
[QUOTE=gonzomax]
The idea that pitchers should hit has been proven wrong.
[/quote]
I must’ve been out sick that day, what was the proof? Have whatever opinion you like, don’t tell me it’s been proved. Personally I’m neither enraged by, nor enamored of, the DH. The contrast between the leagues is ok. If I had to pick a preference I’d say get rid of the DH.
Much the same could be said of catchers. Plenty of them can’t hit or run either. There are some exceptions, just as there are a few pitchers who can hit - Zambrano, Mike Hampton, Dontrelle Willis - but that’s not a vital skill.
[QUOTE=HoboStew]
What little strategy offered by having pitchers bat (and that is very very little) is offset by the numerous times you will have, say, runners on second & third, 2 outs, and now the pitcher’s coming up. Rally’s over folks! See you next inning!
[/QUOTE]
That’s the whole point (for me, anyway; I realize this is a matter of opinion). I love the basic strategy of “pure” baseball. You get to trot out 9 players, and all of them have to bat, unless you pull a player–and then he can’t be put back in the game. That’s a very simple premise. Hmm, leads to some interesting dilemmas for the manager. I love to play armchair manager myself.
Every position is the same. The manager gets to decide collectively what is the best combination of offense and defense, then he gets to tweak that balance as the game progresses, and we people in the stands get to second guess and bitch. It’s perfect! It’s an element of the game I would not give up for anything. AL requires almost no managing, ISTM.
For DH fans, my question is why stop there? Field an all-defensive team and an all-offensive team. If you want a player to play both ways, fine, but you don’t have to. Almost no strategy required whatsoever, other than deciding when a pitcher’s spent.
[QUOTE=silenus]
The DH makes the baby Jesus cry.
[/QUOTE]
And the baby Felipe and Mattie, too! 
[QUOTE=Troy McClure SF]
The designated hitter violates Rule 1.01 of Major League Baseball.
[/QUOTE]
I’m not a big baseball fan, and I don’t swing one way or the other (no pun intended) on the DH rule, but looking at the official baseball rules, it looks like they’re open to interpretation, much like the Bible and the Constitution. Rule 1.01 reads in full “Baseball is a game between two teams of nine players each, under direction of a manager, played on an enclosed field in accordance with these rules, under jurisdiction of one or more umpires.” If this rule were to be taken literally, no team could have additional players on its roster for substitution purposes (injuries, etc.)- only the nine players that were on the field at the start of the game.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
I agree with this but I don’t think the DH is really the problem. What really lengthens games is the endless stepping out of the box and setting and resetting by pitchers. I think there should be some restrictions on timeouts and that there should be a pitch clock. Nothing makes baseball as boring as watching the interminable rituals of both hitters and pitchers between pitches. I say the pitcher should have 30 seconds to throw the goddamn ball and if the hitter isn’t ready, too bad for him. A pitch clock would make the game significantly faster and more entertaining. I would also make a rule that a hitter cannot step out of the box once he’s in his stance. If he does, he should be given a strike.
[/QUOTE]
Not that I disagree with you, because I don’t. I agree that batters in the box should either have to stay there or take a strike OR the pitcher should be able to pitch whenever he likes, even if the batter steps out.
But the pitch clock wouldn’t work. Unless you also had a “steal clock” where a base runner had to steal before time expired or wait till the ball is hit or caught by the catcher otherwise you would have base runners waiting the clock out until the pitcher MUST pitch and then taking off. Wouldn’t work.
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves]
Not to mention the effect it’s had on the competitive balance between the leagues. The AL teams’ need to upgrade their pitching to face solid 1-9 lineups, and the development of hitters that the extra lineup spot has allowed, have reduced the NL to “AAAA league” status. Really, how often do you see a World Series or All-Star Game and not wonder if the NL team can avoid getting humiliated this time?
[/QUOTE]
You’d be hard pressed to prove this has anything to do with the DH. It’s long been the case in the major leagues that there were long stretches of time where one league was clearly more talented than the other, and I have trouble believing anyone with even a passing interest in baseball doesn’t remember that the NL used to be utterly, ridiculously dominant in All-Star games - well into the DH era, by the way.
By sheer random chance, it’s to be expected that one league might be a lot better than the other for a number of years.
From Bill James abstract…
In the history of baseball 'whenever runs scored goes down ,attendance goes down.Whenever runs scoring goes up , attendance goes up.
That should be enough for the National league to get smarter.
Without the DH, we would have missed the perfection that was Edgar Martinez.
I once heard the DH defined as a position used in every baseball league in the world, except the National League.
[QUOTE=Phase42]
I once heard the DH defined as a position used in every baseball league in the world, except the National League.
[/QUOTE]
“Sometimes a majority simply means most of the fools are on the same side.”
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
It removes a rally-killing dead spot from the line up, it facilitates more scoring, it spares us the sight of pitchers flailing impotently at the plate and it extends careers. Requiring pitchers to hit is as outdated, in my opinion, as making quarterbacks kick and punt.
[/QUOTE]
Why not follow the logic of that argument and have an offense and a defense? One team of specialized batters and one team of fielders/pitchers? Works for the NFL, after all.
[QUOTE=Phase42]
I once heard the DH defined as a position used in every baseball league in the world, except the National League.
[/QUOTE]
Japanese baseball is the same as MLB, with one league using the DH and one not.
I think they should install high-powered flamethrowers in each dugout. Each team gets three blasts per game, whenever they choose, aimed at a base runner. Only while the ball is in play, though. No fair incinerating someone standing on first scratching his nuts between pitches.
And think of the strategy involved if you’re down to your last blast. Do I blast the still-effective opposing pitcher who somehow managed to work a walk as he trots to first? But he usually craps out by the sixth inning, so maybe I don’t waste this volley on him. Do I turn the dangerous, base-stealing lead-off hitter into a charcoal briquette? Or do I wait to fry the slugger? This is real managing, folks.
Think how exciting that would be! Base runners would need to really be on their toes, ready to dodge a blast at any moment or become a campfire marshmallow. And if you’re on fire, the other rules still apply–you better reach the next base, or you can be tug out, no free pass for anyone ablaze.
Man, that would be way better than the current boring-ass base running we’re forced to endure! But now all the baseball purists will come in here ignoring the entertainment value, harping on the “integrity of the game” and other such nonsense. I don’t know why I bother. 
[QUOTE=friedo]
Anybody who thinks the DH is a good idea needs to be taken out back and unceremoniously shot in the back of the head.
[/QUOTE]
friedo: wishing death on other posters, even if meant as a joke, is a violation of the Registration Agreement:
You’ve been around long enough to know this. Please DON’T.
I understand that this was meant as a joke, so I’m not making any official record of this, but it ain’t gonna happen again, right?
Anyone unclear on the Registration Agreement, here’s a link: SDMB registration agreement as of 12/29/2008 - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board
Somebody got coal in their stocking this year!