On January 11, 1973, just about a month before spring training, the American\u00a0League announced that it would begin using a controversial new rule for the \u201973 season –\u00a0\u201cthe designated pinch-hitter rule\u201d.<\/p>\n
It was implemented when Commissioner Bowie Kuhn broke a tie between the\u00a0A.L. (which had voted approval), and the National League (disapproval), granting it to\u00a0just the one league.<\/p>\n
That decision, more than 40 years later, remains controversial. It was intended\u00a0to be an experiment, designed to help the weaker-hitting A.L. put some more offense\u00a0into games, and thus draw greater crowds.<\/p>\n
Years later, the former A.L. President Lee MacPhail, reflected that \u201cit served its\u00a0purpose; neither league is struggling offensively, and we probably could abandon it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t abandoned, and there it still rests today. Despite some recent talk\u00a0that the N.L. might consider implementing it, that remains a long shot. As for being\u00a0eliminated, that would require approval of the Players Association since it is part of the\u00a0Rule Book, and such a move would be unlikely in that it would make many high-salaried\u00a0players jobless. Unions don\u2019t approve things like that.<\/p>\n
I was part of the New York Yankees public relations operation on that cold\u00a0January day 43 years ago, and we were in the midst of our annual \u201cwinter caravan,\u201d\u00a0taking a bus each morning to travel a good distance to preview our season for writers\u00a0and broadcasters in Connecticut, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and southern New\u00a0Jersey. These were always fun trips with plenty of beer on the bus, card games going in\u00a0the back, and a chance to get to know our newest \u201cstar,\u201d who was along to aid the\u00a0publicity effort. In 1973, that was Graig Nettles.<\/p>\n
We stopped at our destination in south Jersey, and got word of the news (at the\u00a0time it was called \u201cdesignated pinch-hitter\u201d) from the newspapermen themselves, who\u00a0had received wire service reports before driving to the restaurant. I remember that it\u00a0was a bit of a shock to get news that way, but the concept wasn\u2019t alien. It had been\u00a0debated and voted down at the 1972 Winter Meetings in Honolulu. Lee MacPhail was\u00a0our general manager, and he might have been notified by \u201cteletype\u201d from the league\u00a0office in Boston, but he was on the bus with us.<\/p>\n
My best memory of the day was when one of the newspapermen, in all\u00a0seriousness, asked our manager, Ralph Houk, \u201cDo you expect to use this rule often?\u201d<\/p>\n
Houk knew immediately that he would in fact be using it every day until the end\u00a0of time. So too did all the other A.L. managers. Instantly, the game had changed.<\/p>\n
You could play with the rules in other sports; moving goal posts, adding three\u00a0point shots, curving hockey sticks – but to tamper with baseball rules was huge. Still is.<\/p>\n
That was why, in part, the National League would be so opposed. The N.L. was\u00a0the league of the solid citizens – O\u2019Malley, Stoneham, Carpenter, Galbreath, Busch – the\u00a0wise old guard. They were the barons of baseball, the ones who were ideologically tied\u00a0to tradition. The American League had the Finleys, the Veecks, the new guy waiting for\u00a0league approval, George Steinbrenner, and others who did not see things as much\u00a0etched in stone as others did. (John Fetzer and Tom Yawkey being exceptions).<\/p>\n
The \u201cDH Rule\u201d had been suggested, from time to time, all the way back to a\u00a0young Connie Mack. Letting pitchers hit, usually without success, was often discussed.\u00a0But now the American League, which had fallen deeply behind in signing of black and\u00a0Latin stars, was really struggling. It really did need a boost. Only one of its teams – the\u00a0Kansas City Royals – had hit better than .250 in 1972. The Texas Rangers hit .217.<\/p>\n
The rule had actually been tried in 1969 in the International League, where the\u00a0league batting average went from .252 in 1968 to .269. No one proclaimed it a success\u00a0or a failure, and it was quietly dropped after one season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked it,\u201d says Hector Lopez, the former Yankees and Athletics infielder-outfielder who was managing the Buffalo Bisons. (Lopez, Panamanian, was the third\u00a0black manager in Organized Baseball. Gene Baker managed Batavia of the New York-Penn League in 1961 and 1964; Nate Moreland managed in the Arizona-Mexico League\u00a0in 1959). \u201cWe used an outfielder as a DH for most of the season, but of course, he\u00a0thought he was hurting his career by not playing the field for scouts to see. And the\u00a0pitchers missed hitting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the hitters in the league that year were Darrell Evans, Ralph Garr, Amos\u00a0Otis, Tom Grieve, Dave Cash, Tony Muser, Frank Tepedino, and Mike Jorgensen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked it a lot,\u201d says Tepedino, who played for Syracuse. \u201cIf I was going to get to\u00a0the majors it was going to be with my bat, not my glove. I was happy not to have to think\u00a0about fielding. It was perfect for me. \u201c<\/p>\n
For 1973, American League teams had to act quickly. Oakland had released\u00a0Orlando Cepeda, who had bad knees, on December 18, and he thought his career was\u00a0over. Suddenly, a race was on to sign him. Boston signed him on January 18. The\u00a0intent of the rule was exactly this – to keep star players in the game longer. At once,\u00a0names like Harmon Killebrew, Boog Powell and Al Kaline saw their careers extended.\u00a0Other teams hustled to find sluggers. The Yankees signed Jim Ray Hart from the\u00a0Giants. Oakland replaced Cepeda with Deron Johnson. Others included Frank\u00a0Robinson (California), Alex Johnson (Texas), Tommy Davis (Baltimore), and Carlos May\u00a0(Chicago).<\/p>\n
Over the years, the idea of the DH slugger in the middle of the lineup evolved\u00a0into any sort of hitter, batting anywhere in the lineup, without regard to star-quality.<\/p>\n
People used to ask Mickey Mantle if the DH would have extended his career past\u00a01968. \u201cOh no,\u201d he would respond. \u201cI couldn\u2019t hit anymore. That was why my career\u00a0ended.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adjustments were necessary. Most old scoreboards couldn\u2019t post \u201cDH\u201d as a\u00a0position, and had to make due with \u201cB\u201d for batter (the second half of 1B, 2B 3B), or just a\u00a0blank.<\/p>\n
A statistical oddity in that first season of the DH was Nolan Ryan of the Angels\u00a0breaking the all-time single season strikeout record with 383 – without ever facing a\u00a0pitcher.<\/p>\n
The DH was used throughout spring training of 1973, so it wasn\u2019t a novelty by\u00a0Opening Day. But the story of the very first regular season DH was an oddity in itself.<\/p>\n
Opening Day in the A.L. was Friday, April 6, and the Yankees were at Fenway Park to\u00a0face the Red Sox. By playing in the Eastern time zone, this was the first game with a\u00a0DH. Cepeda was slated to hit fifth.<\/p>\n
The Yankees DH was 24-year old Ron Blomberg, a former number one overall\u00a0draft pick. Blomberg had been injured in spring training and was unable to play the field\u00a0– but Houk asked him if he could hit, and Blomberg said yes. He was to bat sixth.<\/p>\n
The injury prevented Tepedino from serving in that role on Opening Day. Houk\u00a0had told him it would be him, until the Blomberg injury.<\/p>\n
In the top of the first, with Luis Tiant on the mound, Matty Alou doubled with two\u00a0out, and that was followed by walks to Bobby Murcer and Nettles. That sent Blomberg\u00a0up, as PA announcer Sherm Feller mumbled, \u201cdesignated hitter, number 12, Ron\u00a0Blomberg.\u201d (He may have said \u201cBLOOM-berg,\u201d which would have been the correct\u00a0pronunciation; but that was unlikely).<\/p>\n
So history was about to be made. And rising to the moment, Blomberg walked,\u00a0scoring Alou with the game\u2019s first run. The DH was going to be a hit – already, it was\u00a0resulting in added offense!<\/p>\n
After the game, I got the bat from Blomberg, and sent it to Cooperstown. \u201cThe\u00a0first pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, left\u00a0fielder, center fielder and right fielder are all long dead,\u201d I told him, \u201cbut you\u2019re here; the\u00a0first DH in history.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is the only bat at the Hall of Fame commemorating a walk.<\/p>\n
Despite the historic moment, no video or still photos have been found of the time\u00a0at bat. Cepeda, as it turned out, didn\u2019t bat until the bottom of the second, and he struck\u00a0out (The Red Sox won the game 15-5, despite an 0-for-6 from Cepeda).<\/p>\n
Both Blomberg and Cepeda were honored in a pre-game ceremony at Fenway\u00a0Park in 2013, and Blomberg even wrote a book called \u201cDesignated Hebrew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Want to get a quick debate going among opinionated baseball fans? Try Pete\u00a0Rose or the DH rule. Forty-three years later, the DH is still a hot topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Origin of DH Rule On January 11, 1973, just about a month before spring training, the American\u00a0League announced that it would begin using a controversial new rule for the \u201973 season –\u00a0\u201cthe designated pinch-hitter rule\u201d. It was implemented when Commissioner… Continue Reading