- On January 11, 1973,the owners of America’s 24 major league baseball teams vote to allow teams in the American League (AL) to use a “designated pinch-hitter”
Thanks Carl, for bringing up the DL topic earlier!
It's crazy that for 4 decades, the American League has been using a designated hitter and National League has not. So I have to ask..........who wants the NL to finally adopt the DH rule?
Is there anybody that thinks the AL should go back to forcing pitchers to bat?
Maybe some think it should stay this way?
https://sabr.org/research/historical-evolution-designated-hitter-rule
The charts below tell the story
https://www.businessinsider.com/buster-olney-designated-hitters-national-league-2018-6
The National League owners must have agreed to it as an experiment that they were not willing to try.
After 4 decades, I think it's time they agreed that it works and extends pitchers' careers.
If Babe Ruth has also been a DH. he'd might still hold the home run record.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ruthba01-pitch.shtml
http://www.baberuthcentral.com/babe-ruth-statistics/babe-ruth-the-pitcher/
Babe’s slugging was so overwhelming for the era and is still so impressive today that a good portion of people are unaware he started his career as a pitcher. Even fewer people realize just how skilled a pitcher he truly was. It is these feats that make Babe the unique ballplayer that he was.
In Babe Ruth’s 1916 season as a pitcher, his record was 23 Wins and 170 Strikeouts, with a 1.75 ERA, 9 Shutouts and 23 Complete Games – a very impressive mark for even the best pitchers in baseball.