Who's the most high-profile hater of the Designated Hitter -- thing?

The Game Room
1

Besides me, I mean. And maybe George Will.*

Is there anyone active in Major League Baseball who considers it an abomination that de-legitimizes American League teams?

Has any professional baseball player refused to sign with an AL team on account of it? Has any manager ever refused to put one into the lineup? Has any NL pitcher in inter-league play ever insisted on walking a DH, even when there was no tactical advantage to be gained?

*Never mind about him. I found Cecil’s article mentioning that he’d changed his mind.

2

No.

No.

No.

They’re professionals. It’s a rule, not a genocide.

People may not like the DH, but really, nobody’s going to risk their livelihood over it.

3

But they’re professional BASEBALL players. Unlike those sell-outs who play what might as well be T-ball, AFAIAC.

It makes me sad to think that none of them have the [del]guts[/del] pig-headedness to put principle over profit.

C’mon, not even one player at the end of his career who’d rather retire than betray the game?

Bummer.

4

The thing is that most people don’t see it as being a “betrayal of the game” to accept a rule change and continue playing. It’d be kind of silly, don’t you think?

5

Look, I hate the DH as much as the next guy. I love National League baseball, letting the pitcher hit, all of it. You know what I love more? Winning.

6

Almost every active player in the majors grew up with the DH, and all of them grew up playing baseball. The National League is just about the last league professional or college league that doesn’t have a DH. Why should the players care about any of this? It’s ancient history to them. Principles don’t even factor into it. The players frequently have a more level-headed take on things than the diehard fans do. They don’t have an opposition to the DH because they have no reason to, and they are more interested in doing their jobs than in the egos and the fighting that gets wrapped up in sports. I don’t expect all the Yankees and Red Sox players to hate each other in real life and I don’t feel betrayed when somebody goes from a team I like to a rival. That’s stuff the fans care about, not the players. Maybe once upon a time the players felt that way, but now most of them are rich guys doing a job.