SEATTLE — There are three things you don’t talk about in polite company: politics, religion and bringing the designated hitter to the National League.
I discovered the latter after penning my last Sunday column. I wrote that I was waffling on my long-held beliefs and was beginning to think that maybe the DH in the NL wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Whoa! You’d have thought I’d slandered Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Pope Francis and golden retrievers in one fell swoop. Irate emails filled my inbox and I got fried on Twitter. In a poll in The Denver Post, nearly 66 percent voted against the NL adding the DH.
I must say, your passion was impressive. Now I’m rethinking my rethinking.
Here, in the interest of equal time, is a sampling of fans’ views on the topic.
“The NL is a HARDER league. Sorry but neither aging, mostly overweight sluggers, nor lumber specialists impress this National League fan. Sure AL fans, you love ’em, but they’d have to play the WHOLE game in the NL. … Any pinhead can get all blissed out recalling another flyball home run to the short porch at Yankee Stadium. So why must this pampering of baseball pitchers continue to escalate? The almighty dollar.” — Tom Cowhick
“I grew up watching the American League. When I moved to Colorado in my early 60’s, I was a little leery about adjusting to watching National League baseball, but I have found it much more interesting. Itap exciting to see a good-hitting pitcher, and itap fun to see what strategies the managers come up with in “the late inning chess game.” I’ve been watching the Rockies for 16 years now, and I say, ‘NO DH!’ “ — Patricia Geraghty
“I am generally dismayed by what I see as another attempt to dumb down or speed up the game, simply to appease an audience that is less and less interested in the real game of baseball. The problem, which MLB refuses to publicly acknowledge, is not that the game is too long or too slow or or too boring; it’s that the real fans … simply can’t afford it anymore.” — Arlen Hershberger
“Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things to do, but for what these guys are being paid, they shouldn’t embarrass themselves or step up as automatic outs. Nor should the American League DH’s need an owner’s manual for using a mitt when they have to play defense in a National League park.” — Stu Mark
“The DH idea was wrong when it was instituted in the AL back in the 70s, and if baseball really wanted to do something with the DH, it should abolish it completely. The whole premise of baseball, is to throw ball, catch ball and hit ball. Anyone wearing the uniform should be expected to perform in all three areas. No, most major-league pitchers are never going to possess the hitting skills of a position player, but I want them at the plate to try and help themselves win a baseball game.” — Danny Gum
“Many of the arguments in favor (of the DH) are exactly the same why I’m against. I like the managerial chess match, and dislike anything that removes strategy and thought from the game. I’m tired of empty AB’s in the nine hole, but I’m completely sick of all-or-nothing swings up and down the lineup where there is no urgency to move a runner over or drive in one in scoring position.” — Andrew Macdonald
