How many changes can a league make until its sport becomes a new sport? Is the American League still playing baseball? The designated hitter is a stupid rule that changes a key aspect of the game. The batting order is drastically changed without the pitcher at the ninth spot. The strategy of whether to pinch hit for the pitcher or leave him in is gone. It is nothing more than a gimmick. I'd say ghost runners are a more integral part of baseball than the DH. Pitchers are baseball players, too and should be forced to bat as well. It sux that the Stros lost Hernandez, but that was a freak thing. What's next Golfer's using carts? Zone defenses in the NBA? Seatbelts in Nascar (okay this is a great thing)? Figure skating without having to skate a figure? Allowing intentional grounding outside the tackles? Integrating Tic Tac Toe into thermonuclear warfare? What would the average sports fan reaction be to moving the Stros to the AL to create a rivalry with the Rangers? Gimmick or good thing? This has been my biannual rant about the evils of the DH, carry on.
I'm with you...I can't stand the DH! It's a travesty, and I would be devastated (is that too strong a word??!!) if the Astros were forced into the AL.
The only thing worse than the DH is the Aluminum Bat, that godawful sound it makes drives me up the wall.
Are you guys crazy? The DH has kept alive the careers of such amazing individuals as Jose Canseco. Now, wouldn't we all miss him if we didn't get to see those flyballs headed over the homerun fence? Seriously, I agree. The DH is a joke, and AL baseball is not nearly as much fun to watch.
What they ought to do is move the Rangers to the NL Central. And I suppose they'd have to move someone like Arizona to the AL West to make up the Rangers' AL spot.
One of my favorite Rome takes was when he was talking about some college pitcher that got nailed in the nads from a hit. <B>PING...AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!</B>
In favor of what? Wood bats are way too expensive & will never be used & the ceramic-composite bats never really got accepted. Yeah, aluminum bats suck & are dangerous, but there really isn't a feasable alternative right now.
I guess I could've phrased that better. A top-of-the-line aluminum bat costs $300 or so, whereas a MLB-quality wood bat is around half that. Wood bats break, and it's the replacement cost that makes wood prohibitive for youth-level, high school & college baseball organizations.
