Robert Nocera on the DH

As I write this, my beloved St. Louis Cardinals are headed to the World series! Woo-hoo!

I know, they don't have a ghost of a chance against Detroit. They were hammered in interleague play by the AL, including lowly Kansas City. But the Royals whupped up on the Tigers late in the season, too! So I'm pulling for the Birds to make an upset. It would be their third straight!

But back to today's FamilyFirst site. Topnny Lasorda is featured in a series of commercials exhorting baseball fans tyto watch post-season play despite the fact that their teams are eliminated. “Come on, you know you love baseball!” he says.

Well, Tommy, I'll be watching the Series for one, and only one reason. The Cards are playing. You see, I'm a Cardinal fan, not a baseball fan.

I grew up with baseball on the radio (Harry Carey screaming “It could be . . . it could be . . . it is!”). By the time I was ten years old, it was by far my favorite sport to watch. The 1969 Mets thrilled me as much in Arkansas as they did any kid in Brooklyn. I would ignore football until the last pitch was thrown in the Series, sadly and reluctantly putting up with other sports until that first pitch was again thrown in April.

It would take a lot to dislodge such a fanatical fan.

Major league baseball managed to do so.

It started in a subtle manner. After Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA in 1968, MLB decided that good pitching would bore fans, so they lowered the pitcher's mound by five inches.

Bad form.

In 1974, they made a much more ill-conceived decision. They introduced the designated hitter.

The result, twenty years later, is that American League teams are built around sluggers. You have to have nine who can smack the ball every day to compete. Game strategy? Nearly none. Your starter pitches until he starts weakening, manager yanks him. Who cares who's batting next?

In the NL, a manager might let a starter give up a few hits, since he's leading off the next inning. Or, he may make a double switch. Strategy is still a factor.

Today's FamilyFirst site is an excellent article written in 1994 by Joseph Nocera for the Washington Monthly. It explains why, twelve years ago, and today, the DH still exists despite overwhelming opposition from NL fans, and ambivalence from AL followers. Unfortunately, that reason will probably make it stick around forever.

Tomorrow, more on how baseball lost a lifelong fan.

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