Designated Hitter

[bedraggled]

TennPaGa,

So you like the Designated hitter.  OK but I wish I were a National League fan.  The DH diminishes strategy and possibly wears out a pitcher.  The pitcher usually gets a breather with the 8th and 9th batters in the line up without the DH.  Now the lineup is loaded throughout.  This all just opinion, of course.

I just read that baseball was considering the DH back in the early 1930s to keep Babe Ruth and others in the game.  But it adds to the fun if a team cannot find a place to hide a lousy fielder.  Dick Stuart of the Pirates was nicknamed "Dr. Strangeglove" and "Clank" for his poor play at first base.  It was further suggested he was not allowed to play in the rain as his hands would rust.

To see a bunch of old guys hang around the American League does not appeal to me.  Also, many of the young players seem to have a "swing from the heels" approach leading to gobs of strikeouts.  Seeing an old DH doing that doesn't work for me.

I just can't stomach rooting for the Mets, though.  THe real joke is following the escapades of the Steinbrenner kids.

This is all just opinion, of course.

[bedraggled]

TennPaGa,

I like your DH comments.

I saw Ron Blomberg's at bat as the first DH; in retrospect, a sad day for me.  (I saw the at bat on TV, not in person at Fenway).

Should a new thread be started on the DH?  We would put it under other discussions. 

[Xan]

Like or dislike the designated hitter, it ain't baseball.  Baseball players bat and field.  The AL plays designated-hitter-ball.

The Astros' switch to the AL absolutely burned my chaps, and does to this day.  Not only did the team get screwed just because they were for sale at the wrong time, but now they use the DH, now I have to pick between the Astros and Rangers, which I never did before, and now there's a stupid exhibition (interleague) game every night.

From Austin, three NL cities are effectively equidistant.  They are Denver, St Louis, and Atlanta.  Pretty dang far!  I've picked the Cardinals as my new team, but it's hard to just switch like that.  It helps that Houston was a minor league Cardinals city up until the founding of the Colt .45s in the '60s, and that as a member of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, many church friends are Cardinals fans.

[bedraggled]

Xan,

I love your comment!

With the DH they can put a half keg of beer in the first base coaching box and stop off for a cold one on the way to 2nd base-  we can call it "softball."

This is an opinion.  If you like the DH, you have won.  Congratulations!  I just festered toward adulthood in a different time.

Cheers and all the best!

[barrett]

I just festered toward adulthood in a different time.

I had to do an internet search to see if "festering toward adulthood" was a literary reference. Kinda like "slouching toward Bethlehem" only different.

Anyone remember Gates Brown of the Tigers? He would have made a great DH. His gut was the right size for starters. Pitching rosters were only ten guys back then and every now and then a specialist would stick around for a bit. Herb Washington was a designated base runner for the Athletics back in 1974 & 1975. Of course he got caught stealing a lot which is a big rally killer.

[bedraggled]

Festering was basically a Jean Shepherd term, WOR radio, 710 AM evenings.  He was on from the mid 1950s until 1976.

He was the author of and script consultant for the 1983 movie "The Christmas Story."  Red Ryder BB gun, that is.  You can get Jean Shephers's books on Amazon.

[WildAboutHarry]

I have no strong opinion about the Designated Hitter.

But I am reminded of a great line from Bull Durham:

"I believe that there oughtta be a constitutional amendment outlawing astro-turf and the designated hitter..."

[bedraggled]

WildAboutHarry,

Amen, Brother!

[Ad Orientem]

I intensely dislike...
* The DH. Stop being a bunch of candy asses. The name of the game is baseball. If you wear a glove you also swing a bat.
* Inter-league games. The only time the AL and NL should be meeting is for the All Star game and the World Series.
* Video play review. Bad calls are a part of the game. Deal with it, or take up golf.

[bedraggled]

Xan,

You are a serious baseball student.  I just reread your post.

Do you recommend Austin TX to prospective retirees?

BTW, I am 3 subway stops from the "New " Yankee Stadium.

The powers that be took the Western Hemisphere's Roman Coliseum and renovated it in 1976.  Fred "Chicken" Stanley, the nifty Yankee shortstop, when he saw the place, said: "This looks like a bad vinyl-siding job."  I could not figure out the problem for 30 years but Fred Stanley nailed it in a glance.

But wait!  They tear down the reasonable facsimile to the Coliseum (brings to mind the term "Mortal Sin") and give us the new place.  I believe New York State handed over $2.5 billion.  The taxpayers' grandchildren will still be paying for this, but the Steinbrenners needed some help, I guess.  Oh, the taxpayers don't get discounts on field level box seats.

Maybe I should not retire.  I seem to have too much time for this stuff.

[Xan]

Bedraggled,

My first instinct is to say that enough people are moving here already, but we could always use some more PPers.  :-)

To be honest, since I'm only in my early 30s, I haven't thought much about what retirement would be like here.  My parents are moving to New Orleans, if that tells you anything.  Overall I think it's a great place, and I think you're likely to find a neighborhood where you can have just about whatever lifestyle you like.

One potential downside is that, partially because of the way schools and school taxes are set up, Austin (at least in my experience) is more age-segregated than a lot of places.  The typical thing for retirees to do is to move out to Lakeway.  Although Lakeway these days is getting younger; their school district is doing well and attracting young families too.

Anyway.  I don't really know, is the long and short of it.  I can put you in touch with a realtor friend of mine if you'd like.  She'll be up on all these kinds of things.

[bedraggled]

Xan,

Thanks for your thoughts.  My wife informed me shortly after the post that our health network has loads of doctors in Florida but none in Texas.  She tells me, having family in TX, we will visit but will probably reside elsewhere.

Enjoy your day.  I hear Josh Hamilton is back with the Rangers.  He was to be THE great one.  Too bad.

[bedraggled]

TennPaGa,

Lumbering outfielders and first basemen are part of baseball tradition.  Ted Williams was only adequate in left field.  This is all part of the tradition.

I think your thoughts are great fun to read.

Thanks.

[bedraggled]

TennPaGa,

I just caught your post on strike outs.  Excellent.

I don't want to assert the "purist" angle" as much as I think the game is boring.

The family went with me to a day game at Yankee Stadium 10 years ago. ($5 tickets; it was a weekday).  The Yankees scored 8 runs in 1 inning but that half inning took 45 minutes.  We were bored to tears.  My wife read a book.

There's something wrong with the game.  I am not being summoned to fix it.  They haven't offered me gobs of cash, either.

Perspective?  Via the internet, I determined my first game attended was April 11, 1961.  For a 6 year old, it was OK.  THe Yankees lost and Mantle/Maris struck out 4 or 5 times.  That home run show did not start until May.  That was kinda fun after that April 11 game- but not on April 11.

Cheers.

[bedraggled]

TennPaGa,

You nailed the strikeout problem.  Baseball theory/lore says put the ball in play.  Typical year: Joe DiMaggio might strikeout 65 times, while Yogi Berra only 10 times.  Mickey Mantle was a bit embarrassed by averaging 100 whiffs per year.  You would agree there is more to baseball than HR or strikeout.  I guess I'll see how many times Ted Williams struck out. 

Your last point on defensive shifts is debatable.  Over time these things are deciphered.  In the Ruth and Cobb days the standard defensive array went for decades.  Someone had to do something about the obvious.  Lew Boudreau [spelling problem, here], Cleveland manager, shifted on Ted Williams in the late 1940s.  Williams had too much pride and hit into the shift.  In retirement, he said he was stupid and should have hit to left and bunted.  Today's players are silly.  Williams told them what to do.  Of course, Hank Bauer, Yankee outfielder, late 1940s- 1950s suggested many players, him included, could not hit the other way.  That today's player can't bunt…!!!

These shifts keep scoring lower and that's acceptable.  [Opinion].

Strikeout thought:  today's player thinks a strikeout is OK!  Ithink we agree- boring.

My first game in April, 1961, started a 8PM.  Somehow, we fit my sister's birthday cake in for dessert and still went to the game.  At least I'm impressed.  (Maybe not. We lived on 182nd Street and the game was played at 161st Street).

And the Yankees may have ruined Joba Chamberlain.

Quickly then out:  3 problems [opinions]:
1) can't sacrifice bunt,
2) no complete games
3) the designated hitter

Have a nice day.

[barrett]

DiMaggio had 361 career home runs and only 369 career strikeouts. Ted Williams numbers were 521 and 709. Those numbers on DiMaggio are among the most impressive in baseball history.

TennPa, let's make Greg Luzinski the left fielder on the all-inertia team. Prince Fielder is eating his way into that lineup as well. Clay Dalrymple of the Phillies used to get gunned down at first base on hard hit line drives to right field, so he can handle the catching duties.

How have you guys not yet hit on the save stat as being a useless piece of the game?

[bedraggled]

The save stat may need another thread.  I am sure this is why Craigr and MediumTex set this place up.

[bedraggled]

TennPaGa,

That is the game.

I thought it ended 5-0 but my father liked leaving early in a lost cause.  This game fit the bill.

Berra almost hit a 3-run HR which would have put them back in the game but….  Kinda frustrating for the first game.  When we consider starting pitcher, Whitey Ford, was 25-4 in 1961, I am still disappointed.  Mantle and Maris created some breezes that night, too. 

Thanks.

[bedraggled]

TennPaGa,

Thanks to that box score you referenced, I went back and determined my father took us to opening day.  I am impressed.

Thanks.

[bedraggled]

Nobody commented on my beer keg in the first base coaching box snarky remark.

[bedraggled]

Baseball appeals or it doesn't.

My wife asserts football is boring: a lot of standing around, then they snap the ball followed by 2 to 5 seconds of doing "something."

[bedraggled]

Well,. here we are again.  I dredged it up.  Thanks, Tenn.

Found my big Yankees?Red Sox doubleheader: 9/15/1970.  Yankees swept.  Sat next to a Red Sox fan.  There was a civil tone between the 2 camps then.

If you are old enough, a major leaguer team had 9 or 10 pitchers.  Yeah, they can all throw 95 to 100 mph but they all break down.  Maybe they are not designed to throw 100 mph.

To be continued.

[Austen Heller]

I misread the title of this thread at first...

[bedraggled]

Austen,

Craig and Tex have set up a decorous forum here.  This is about baseball and the horrid designated hitter.

None the less, American League baseball had a perfect balance.  A pitcher always got a breather with the 8 and 9 batters.  The pitchers completed games as they did for almost a century.  Weak 8 and 9 batters had a role.  Now we get Babe Ruth batting 2 thru 8 and a couple of Rickey Hendersons leading off and batting 9!  Egad!  This its baseball?  To be a National League fan….

Baseball was perfectly balanced like the HBPP is now.  Adding the designated hitter is like adding utility stocks  to the Permanent Portfolio or, Heaven help us, substituting a residential REIT for VTI.  Let's add Facebook and drop SGOL!!

All is good, though, as we New York taxpayers are paying for the "new" Yankee Stadium for the next several generations.

Getting late.

[Austen Heller]

None the less, American League baseball had a perfect balance.  A pitcher always got a breather with the 8 and 9 batters.  The pitchers completed games as they did for almost a century.  Weak 8 and 9 batters had a role.  Now we get Babe Ruth batting 2 thru 8 and a couple of Rickey Hendersons leading off and batting 9!  Egad!  This its baseball?  To be a National League fan….

I don't watch baseball very often, but when I do, I prefer to watch the national league.  As an American, I'm a fan of lots of scoring, and when the  pitcher is up to bat, it's usually an automatic out.  Boring!!