Spring Training is in progress and the first pitch of the baseball season is only a month away. It is time to address an evil that goes on in America’s National League ballparks every day of the baseball season.
Pitchers bat! (That is not a misprint. They actually make pitchers pretend to bat in the National League.)
Ridiculous!
Some people were created with the ability to hit a baseball and some with the ability to hurl it. We don’t ask Alex Rodriquez to pitch, why do we expect CC Sabathia to bat during interleague play? It is a violation of nature.
Sure, there is an exception to the rule that comes along every century or so. But when a pitcher like Babe Ruth realizes his can knock the cover off the ball, an American League team has the sense to turn him into an everyday player. ‘
When I was young, the more talented and intelligent American League conformed to nature and justice and instituted something called the designated hitter rule. When the pitcher was supposed to come to the plate and embarrass his family with his feeble swings, they instead sent someone to the plate who knew which end of the bat to hold.
I’m not sure whether the American League is superior because it has the DH or if the superiority of the American League is what caused it to adopt the DH. Chicken meet egg. But there is one unassailable fact – American League baseball is better.
- It is better because all nine hitters in the batting order have an actual chance to make contact with the ball.
- It is better because pitchers don’t get to take a break every ninth hitter. They actually have to throw big league pitches to all nine batters.
- It is better because teams don’t have to find a place in the defensive alignment for players who shouldn’t even own a baseball glove. The AL just lets them hit in the place of the pitcher – joy for all.
- It is better because it does not have sappy sentimentalists talking about the glories of baseball past before the American League had the good sense to institute the DH.
It is time, folks, for Americans to rise up and demand an end to the travesty that is National League Baseball. Write your congressman. Demand action. Pitchers can’t hit and it is an embarrassment when they try! Demand that the designated hitter become the rule in all of Major League Baseball.
An evil such as this can only prevail if good men say nothing! I suggest everyone interested in change to put the message on a custom 7 on 7 football jerseys click here, and wear it to all the games you go to.
National League baseball is quite superior to American League Baseball:
— It is better, because Pitchers actually have to contribute to offense (bunts, sac fly, squeeze play) and not just sit in the cushy dugout while the real players bat.
— It is better because pitchers don’t get to take a break every ninth hitter and watch their teammates play.
— It is better because it adds an added dimension of strategy in which the game is often won by smart decisions and not just brute force.
— It is better because those player who can’t catch a ball don’t belong in a baseball uniform. The DH is a position for those who can’t really PLAY baseball, they can just hit a ball.
— It is better because it honors tradition and does not change the essence of the game just to accommodate players who can’t play and fans who can’t think.
Heretic.
Making a double-switch isn’t rocket science.
You and I agree on most everything…it’s nice to see you are wrong about something.
lol- nice.
Todd,
On this matter, you and I are in complete agreement; and there can be no dispute.
The NL is vastly superior due to all the things that you mentioned above….plus, the Cardinals are in the NL.
David
Go Cards!
*sigh*
lol
Maybe we could meet in St. Louis for a game. 🙂
yesssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hear Hear Dave!
American League all the way! Now having said that, you being a Yankees fan and me being a Rangers fan that will probably be the extent of our agreement. 😉
Oh my. We may have to break fellowship over this. NL baseball is the sport in its purity. For MANY reasons, the DH practically eliminates the strategic element of the game. It is a scourge upon the earth.
I will give you this Josh, your boys did a fine job of taking my boys to school on the short bus at the World Series. It doesn’t bother me because they received the kind of beating that will only make them want to play better. But I have to give props to your Cardinals.
I am with these guys, National league baseball is baseball.
Richard, Richard. You have been blinded by your love of those Braves from Atlanta. If only you would join me for a game or two at the beautiful, spacious Kaufman Stadium, you would come around to the genius that is American League baseball.
Wait a minute…Kaufman Stadium? Debbie Kaufman? Do yall see what I’m seeing?????
David
Let’s hear it for the Debbie Kaufman Stadium !
Y’all done overdone the ‘man-thing’ you know.
Ain’t fittin. It just ain’t fittin.
Go Braves!!
Hear, hear Reverend Miller! Well said! Now if only the sadly delusional NL fans would experience some sort of epiphany while reading this, all would be right in the world.
Now we just have to convince you of the inherent evil of the Evil Empire that is the Yankees. If only you would recognize the danger you pose to women and children everywhere as a result of your misplaced fandom.
Go Royals!
Sadly delusional = Royals fan! 🙂
Dave,
I am glad the AL will now have to play the game as it was meant to be played. AL pitchers not batting has always made me think of pastors who got their sermons from sermon book or downloading Rick Warren–It is a counterfeit of the real thing. Just like preachers need to study for their own sermons-pitchers need to bat for themselves.
There is also more great news in MLB today. The playoffs will be expanded from 8 teams to 10 this season.
Just think. Had that been in effect last season, the Braves might have won the WS! Yeah, that’s right!!
Last year the Braves had a terrible slump in September that eventually cost them playoff spots on the final day of the season. (The same was true for Boston.)
This is just great news and far better and more encouraging reading than reading about denominational name changes, you think?
I can see it now Dave. I can see it now. It is a cool October night in America, 2012 and we hear the cry of the announcer:
BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN! THE ATLANTA BRAVES HAVE SWEPT THE NEW YORK YANKEES IN FOUR TO WIN THE 2012 WORLD SERIES!!!
CB,
The DH rule is still in place in the American League. A pitcher being forced to bat is a heresy and a travesty of justice, and it’s hard to watch and usually ends with “awwwwwwww”.
John Wylie,
When the first two caveman teams faced each other during the gap days of the gap theory, each player had to take his turn at trying to hit the turtle shell. (Back then they used turtle shells for baseballs because horses had not yet evolved to be big enough to use its hide to cover a baseball.)
Therefore, from the beginning, true baseball players took their turn at bat. it was right then. it is right now.
BTW, more great news for all of you SABANATION fans! The Crimson Tide women’s softball team beat Maryland 19-1 and are now NUMBER ONE IN THE NATION!!
You guys can say all you want about Alabama, but we are still NUMBER One in sports and tornadoes. if we can’t strike it out, shoot it, kick it, pass it, out jump it, out run it, or tackle it; We just watch it blow away and start all over.
What makes Alabama great? Southern Baptists, Sports, and Tornadoes–not necessarily in that order. 🙂
as a nice little reminder CB, in baseball THE Florida Gators happen to be on a nice little run, following last year’s season, and are currently ranked #1 in the nation.
Today we take on that nasty school from Miami, after beating them last night. Here’s hoping the Gators continue to chomp the #8 ranked Canes.
Go Gators!
Micah,
I appreciate the reminder. As you know the ‘Gators are in the SEC and that makes them part of a Band of Brothers unequaled in collegiate sports.
BTW, Miami is a nasty little school. The Crimson Elephant’s memory is long and he still remembers them bad-mouthing us in ’92.
So I am twice the ‘Gators’ fan today than normal. Besides, the Tebows are ‘Gators. 🙂
I like to eat fried gator. It’s pretty good.
David
David, you should know by now that Volunteer is typically the breakfast food of Gators, and most everyone else in the SEC these days for that matter, not the other way around.
Micah,
No, I mean, I really do like fried gator. It is pretty good.
David
🙂
😉
Having grown up across the Mississippi River from the Cardinals it was hard not to root for them but had to for my adopted Rangers. But I can never get used to the AL subversion of baseball.
Ron P.
I think Mr Miller will put nearly anything on this blog to draw a response.
I love baseball. I love big hitters and to see the ball fly out of the park. I like to watch the AL for these reasons.
But men prefer darkness rather than light. The AL feeds my flesh, but its end is destruction.
Thus, baseball in the NL is pure and right, and in the end is what will bring pure delight and joy.
Go CARDS!
Liberal.
And, for the record, I write what interests me, not to draw a crowd.
Actually, what motivated this was reading that AJ Burnett got hurt in batting practice now that the Yanks shipped him to an inferior NL club. A few years back the Yanks’ best pitcher effectively had his career ended running the bases. If pitchers were meant to bat and run bases, they wouldn’t look so stupid doing it.
Dave:
– I am no liberal. 🙂
– I don’t balme you – you run the blog, write what interest you.
– Inside, aren’t you glad the Yankees traded Burnett? He never really impressed me all that much.
Cordially,
Heath Lloyd
The Cardinals are the epitome of all that’s good, pure, and true about baseball. They are the reason that people love baseball in the USA. The Cards are the prime example of what baseball is all about. And, right now, they’re getting ready to defend their World Series title.
Go Cards!
David
Vol,
You are so unlearned. Why do you think Atlanta has such a big airport? It is because the world comes there to watch the Braves play baseball.
Braves baseball is why the USA loves baseball. The Braves, the SABANATION, the SEC, the SBC and B-B-Q is why people from all over the earth love the USA.
Did they not teach you Social Studies there in the Blue-tick state?
Silly CB, you know baseball is for Cardinals.
And, BBQ is a Memphis thang.
David
I have a saying for you and it was never truer than last year. When the leaves turn gold, the Braves will fold.
😛
Bravo.
Sing the Doxology!
The change in rules between AL and NL parks during the Series probably cost the Rangers the Series this year, and the Rangers are the most NL-looking team on the basepaths and in substitutions at bat. So whether you like DH or not, you probably should agree that the real travesty is what happens when your team visits the opposite league, though I think the NL neutralizes some of the bat-heavy advantages that accrue to the highest luxury tax paying teams of the AL.
The REAL advantage to the DH spot is you can see favorite players longer. Michael Young (or MY as we Ranger fans like to refer to him) would have been much more difficult to take advantage of the way the Rangers did this past season as a combo DH/super utility player. MY had the best batting season of his career last year, but strongly would have preferred to be a full-time position player. At $16 million per year, though, I think he really just wants to be on the field as opposed to being bought out. David Ortiz of the BoSox is another very popular player that probably would be out of the game without the DH rule.
The MLBPA just doesn’t want to lose a roster spot if they drop the DH rule. Houston Astro fans feel entirely ripped off by the coerced move to the AL and it would actually be a gesture of kindness if the MLB dropped the DH because of that (and the travesty that occurs when YOUR team visits the OPPOSITE league parks.)
What was that famous old Black player who made a remark about not looking over your shoulder as your enemies were gaining on you? I forgot his name, but he played, pitched, and batted, too, and he would have said that not letting pitchers bat was just a sorry excuse or something to that effect but in more colorful language. David, you need your head examined. The national league was always better. The Yankees just won so much as the millionaires of Wall Street were willing to buy all of the best players. By the way, my pastor preached Catfish Hunter’s funeral and the owner of the Yankees was there for the funeral at the FBC of Hertford at that time. Even Reggie (my son’s here in his childhood) showed up for the funeral though a little late. I had the son of the Catcher for the Gas House Gang of the Cardinals back in the late 20s early 30s in my church in the 80s-90s; he was a retired navy seal. He use to tell me about going to visit Enos Slaughter up in Person County with his Dad (who had also managed the Durham Bulls after retirement from playing). My pastor told of Catfish Hunter really caring about people and giving him money to help people in need only with the understanding that he was never to let them know who was helping. I also had a relative of Robin Roberts, the pitcher, in that church. I use to get front row seats to watch Stan the man of the old Cardinals back inthe 50s, and in my child hood use to listen to Harry Carry broadcast the Cardinals, when they were the Southern Gentlemen’s team.
When some players start to get bad habits in the Braves or Mets – just send them up/down to their Triple A locations in Richmond & Norfolk Virginia for a “tune-up” .
Time away from Illinois. 11 years
Seminary: $20K +
Goda calling you to plant a church less than 15 minutes from Busch Stadium, home of the current and future Worlds Series Champions.
Priceless!!
I like your style, Don.
David 🙂
More reasons the AL is superior. AL enthusiasts don’t yammer about “purity” of the game and realize it doesn’t take an Ivy League education to make a double switch.
Of course, I say that on Christian love.
In Christian love…my fingers are too fat for my phone.
“Some people were created with the ability to hit a baseball and some with the ability to hurl it. We don’t ask Alex Rodriquez to pitch, why do we expect CC Sabathia to bat during interleague play? It is a violation of nature.”
I’m a Rangers fan, but it’s logic like this that is destroying God’s people!! We ask Alex Rodriguez to play third base AND bat. We ask outfielders to play in the outfield, run, catch the ball AND bat. The catcher must catch whatever the pitcher is hurling AND bat. If the pitcher expects to be a baseball player, he needs to be able to pitch AND
batstand up in the batter’s box.Seek the old paths, and walk therein.
Come on Dave! If your Yankees were in the National League, you’d want to do away with the American League. You’re a chip off the old block, your wonderful dad! He indoctrinated you real good! I love your theological understanding, but your rationale on the baseball blog is way off the mark! By the way, GO CARDS!!!!
That is heresy, Bob. The Yankees have too much self-respect to be a National League Team.
Bob must be a Southern Gentleman speaking so encouragingly of the Cards.
I just have one thing to say. College uses the DH rule also. There is a reason the NL is referred to as the “senior circuit.” Some day when they grow up the AL will dump the DH. 🙂
Colleges use bats that ping. Enough said.
Well…except for the part that I note A&M is #5 in the nation and GO AGS!! 😉
Seniors have a great role to play in our world. But generally, they should not be playing sports professionally – its not good for their hips and knees.
So, maybe the Senior Circuit should retire and let the real baseball begin.
Sorry, but I have graying hair, so I can kid!!
The DH is destination for the washed greats of the National League, the most famous of which is Hank Aaron. But (the traitor, aka Albert Pujols) chose the Angels precisely so he can contnue to bat when he can no longer play baseball. And yes, I’m from St. Louis, the greatest National League franchise, the home of Bob Gibson who could hit better than some of the washed-up DH’s playing in the American League.
And, by the way, if the American League had the DH when Babe Ruth played, he would have hit 1,000 home runs.