Athletes - Designated hitter

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	Athletes - Designated hitter

A designated hitter (often shortened to "DH"), is an official position adopted by Major League Baseball's American League in 1973 that allowed teams to boost sagging offensive performances by designating a player to bat in place of the pitcher. It should be noted that no team is required to use a DH.

The designated hitter may not play a field position and he may only be replaced by another player not currently in the lineup. However, the designated hitter may change positions to become a position player at any point during the game. However, if he does so, his team forfeits the role of the designated hitter. Thus, the pitcher or a pinch hitter must bat in the newly-opened spot in the batting order.

The rationale was that, with a few exceptions, pitchers are usually weak hitters. Babe Ruth was an outstanding all-around player; a prolific hitter who had begun his career as an equally prolific pitcher with the Boston Red Sox, and soon began playing in the field on days he did not pitch. However, Ruth was eventually made a full-time outfielder during his first year as a member of the New York Yankees, 1920, and pitched very sporadically afterward.

On April 6, 1973, first baseman Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees became the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history, facing Boston Red Sox right-handed pitcher Luis Tiant in his first plate appearance. "Boomer" Blomberg was walked.

Strategically, the designated hitter offers American League managers two primary options: they can either rotate the role among players, using left-handed hitting DHs against right-handed pitchers and vice-versa, or they can employ a full-time designated hitter. The adoption of the designated hitter rule has virtually eliminated the use of the double switch in the American League.

On June 12, 1997, San Francisco Giants outfielder Glenallen Hill became the first National League player to be the DH in a regular-season game against the Texas Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington, Texas (now Ameriquest Field in Arlington). When the Milwaukee Brewers moved from the AL to the NL in 1998, the Brewers no longer used the DH on a regular basis.

Controversy and Baseball Culture

The designated hitter remains a bone of contention, particularly among fans. Baseball purists complain that it destroys the symmetry of the game and removes the strategy element in late innings, while advocates point to the fact that it has extended many careers, and, in a few cases, created long, productive careers for players who are weak fielders or have a history of injuries. Edgar Martinez is such an example. Moreover, Hall of Fame members George Brett, Carl Yastrzemski, and Paul Molitor were able to extend their prolific careers by a few years as designated hitters. Fans of the American League style of play further argue that the designated hitter allows pitchers to play deeper into games than they otherwise might, by removing the manager's incentive to remove a pitcher from play in order to attain a short-term offensive advantage, and that since a pitcher's typical offensive "contribution" is at best to get out and at worst as a rally-killing double or triple play, it improves the play of the game to remove an "easy out" player from the batting order (AL fans also point out that the only baseball strategy removed by the addition of the designated hitter is the double switch; if anything, modern AL baseball with its dizzying array of specialist pitchers and batting styles is much more complex than baseball before 1973)

There is considerable debate over whether the designated hitter rule should be continued. Some have even argued that the National League should adopt it full time.

The role of the designated hitter in the controversial interleague play schedule, implemented in 1997, is used or not used depending on which league the home team is a member of. If the home team is a National League team, it is not used; if the home team is an American League team, it is. The same format is adhered to in the All-Star Game and World Series play. From 1976–1985, the designated hitter rule was used in all World Series games played only in even-numbered years.

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