designated hitter...

[jpd]

Only 2 ways to vote... for it or agin't

[Kerbie]

Against... that's one of the reasons I like the Senior Circuit.

[jpd]

Originally Posted by Kerbie

Against... that's one of the reasons I like the Senior Circuit.

You betcha!

[12barBill]

Against... the pitcher having to hit is/was a big part of the game (at least still in the National League). It brings in another level of game management. For instance, latter innings of a game; down by one or two runs; runners on base; one or two outs; pitcher is up; he hasn't thrown too many pitches... do you pinch hit for him or send him to the plate?

[ChrisE]

I like National League style.

[buddyhu]

Originally Posted by Bill Sims

Against... the pitcher having to hit is/was a big part of the game (at least still in the National League). It brings in another level of game management. For instance, latter innings of a game; down by one or two runs; runners on base; one or two outs; pitcher is up; he hasn't thrown too many pitches... do you pinch hit for him or send him to the plate?

This is the way I see it too.

[Dru Edwards]

I'm for it but I've been an American Leaguer my entire life. It does take away the strategy of when to replace a pitcher/hitter late in the game but the DH tends to add offense to the game.

[raysachs]

I first became a serious baseball fan in Seattle and I was fine with the DH - went to lots of Mariners games in the '80s and first part of the '90s. Then we moved to Philly in late 1992 and I've been primarily watching NL ball ever since. And I realized I didn't know what I'd been missing. The game is so overwhelmingly much more interesting without the DH. The game presents the manager with soooo many more decisions to make, both within a game and in terms of managing his pitching staff over the course of a season. Now I find the DH an abomination, a crime against god and nature. Honestly don't care what they do this season - if the DH makes this season more possible, I guess it's OK, but frankly I doubt they get the season in this year anyway. But for the long haul, if they ever make the DH universal, I'm gonna be much less of a baseball fan.

I'm waaaaay anti-DH.

[DanR]

I'm old school. I started watching MLB in 1962. If you're gonna be on the field, you should have a spot in the batting order.

[rokdog49]

I’ve always hated it.
Play the whole game or go home.
And...get off my lawn.

[_zedagive]

I'd prefer no DH, but more importantly, I just want the 2 leagues to have the same rule.

[Dr. Spivey]

Let the pitchers hit.

[Gasworker]

I love BB but the managers are holding fans hostage with slow play and Pitching changes. 3.5 hours for a game when you live an hour from the stadium is too much. Let the big bats swing away and let the pitchers pitch. Go Blue Jays

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by _zedagive

I'd prefer no DH, but more importantly, I just want the 2 leagues to have the same rule.

The odds are if the two leagues ever have the same rule again it will be WITH the DH. I'd rather leave it the way it is, so at least we purists have somewhere to go to see what we consider "real" baseball. For sure, it gives the home team an outsized advantage in inter-league play and the World Series, but that cuts both ways. And since interleave play has been added to the regular season, teams try to adapt their lineups to be able to compete in those games too.

I get that fans like the faster games and more offense, but baseball was always supposed to be the slow, languid, SUMMER game. Works almost as well on a transistor radio as live or on TV. And there's so much less to think about and talk about and second guess with the DH, it just takes so much of the fun out of the game. They're trying to compete with football but it'll never be football.

-Ray

[brad4d8]

Even though I've been an AL fan (Red Sox) since the Dodgers went west, I wish the DH had never appeared.