The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.There should be a Constitutional Amendment banning the designated hitter from baseball.
On April 6, 1973, Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees became the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history, facing Boston Red Sox right-handed pitcher Luis Tiant in his first plate appearance. "Boomer" Blomberg was walked.[54]
Naturally, the result of the first season of the DH was that the American League posted a higher batting average than the National League, something which has remained consistent to this day.
The designated hitter offers American League managers two options in setting their teams' lineups: they can either rotate the role among players (for example, using a left-handed hitting DH against a right-handed pitcher and vice-versa) or they can employ a full-time designated hitter. It also allows them to give a player a partial day off. The adoption of the designated hitter rule has virtually eliminated the use of the double switch in the American League.
Friday, April 6, 2012
The Downfall of America
April 6, 1974:
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Thorstein Veblen's class analysis' first division was between the Leisure Classes and the Industrial Classes. This class analysis is extremely power—so powerful that it even explain a lot about sports. The Leisure Class sports (baseball, football, etc.) are all about teaching the arts of force and fraud using tradition, militaristic language, etc. They are sports designed to encourage gambling. The Industrial Class sports (airplane and automobile, etc. racing) are designed to demonstrate mastery of physical processes and so are rarely associated with gambling.
ReplyDeleteOne of the interesting manifestations of this distinction concerns rules changes. It is COMMON for rule changes in Industrial Sports to be significant between seasons—often encompassing dozens of major alterations. In the America's Cup Yacht race, they recently changed the formula to allow multi-hull boats—a HUGE change.
So in that ultimate bastion of Leisure Class sport—baseball—we still see folks arguing about the freaking designated hitter rule decades after it passed. It's reason XXXX why I think baseball is fundamentally absurd. If you cannot change rules, your sport will never evolve. Worse, your sport becomes a symbol for a society that has problems evolving.
It may be absurd to argue about the designated hitter rule, but sometimes, it is the absurdities of life that keeps me sane. I can pretend this is a big deal, while overlooking the really crazy things that should really, really piss me off. I can rant and rave, but the things that don't matter maek me feel better getting fired up about. It is a defensive action.
ReplyDeleteI guess that would be make.
ReplyDeleteIf arguing the DH makes you happy, go for it!
ReplyDeleteI guess my real problem is that I don't much care for a game where the definition of "perfect" is that no one got a hit. I have never been so bored that a baseball game would constitute an improvement. Considering I don't like the game itself, an argument over a 40-year-old rule change is not likely to be something I might treasure.
Yeah, if somebody doesn't like baseball, it is hard for them to care. Don't worry, there are plenty of other things to argue about.
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