This year, in the equally memorable, yet oft-wished-for forgettable changes we have experienced, one of the harshest adjustments – at least, for National League fans – is the addition of the designated hitter across all of Major League Baseball.
It was inevitable. All MLB fans knew it was written in stone. It just had to happen in the most dramatic fashion, with the strangest year we have ever had, forced by a season cut back to nearly one-third of its games. It’s understandable. The health of the pitchers, availability of players, loss of time for training and workouts, the increased interleague schedule to eliminate travel… all, and more, played its poisonous part in the decision for the transition.
My fear is that this strange season’s new adjustments might, and most likely will, trigger the switch for the DH to remain league-wide in future seasons. And, well, that’s a shame.
Many NL fans want the double-switch, the managerial make-or-break moves, the sac-bunt – or just the bunt in general – pitchers looking like fools fumbling with their bats, pitchers looking like heroes coming through in game-changing plate appearances.
Mostly, those out of favor of the DH want small-ball. They want strategy. They want unpredictability, excitement, the risk factor.
I thought of this when I recognized this date, September 16, as a date that recognizes one of my favorite MLB accomplishments: the marvelous, majestic, magnificent 30-30 club.
30 home runs. 30 stolen bases. In the same season.
The club is underrated by today’s standards. There are only 42 players who have achieved the feat in baseball history. There was a gap of 34 years from the first time it was accomplished – Ken Williams in 1922 – and the next – Willie Mays in 1956. It’s certainly not easy. It is a rarity, a scarcity, an anomaly… but a wonder!
On September 16, 1987, Joe Carter became the tenth member of the elite club. During that season, a then record, since tied three times, four players joined the club. Carter accomplished it with the Indians, Jose Canseco did it with the Athletics, and Howard Johnson and Darryl Strawberry both did it with the Mets.
On September 16, 2007, David Wright joined; Howard Johnson was waiting for him at the plate as the Mets’ hitting coach. This is a date to remember. And yet, the 30-30 club might not be the coolest club to join – or the most possible feat to accomplish – with the addition of the DH.
The designated hitter is just another factor that eliminates small-ball. When the pitcher had to come to the plate, both teams had an insurmountable amount of factors to work around. When is a game on the line that the manager either risks keeping his starter in for the next inning or pulls him for a pinch-hitter? How does the defense shift for a potential sacrifice bunt? And for the offense with a pitcher at the plate, when do they try to achieve a steal so that there’s less possibility of a wasted at-bat?
It’s an unpopular opinion that, though perhaps not analytically, the steal can prove more valuable than the home run. Everybody hits home runs. They’re a one-and-done. The steal changes the momentum of the game mischievously. It changes what is going on with the pitcher’s agenda. It can scare the sanity out of him. It eliminates the force out, the double-play possibility. It increases the potential for an RBI that may not have been, breeds confidence in the hitter who suddenly has that potential, breeds a lack of confidence in the defense who suddenly have to shift positioning based on their baserunner. Their baserunner, who is a sudden threat.
A home run is beautiful. It may be the swiftest game-changer, but the swiftness of the steal far outweighs the excitement, the acceleration of adrenaline, the stimulation of surprise, the manipulation of the mound from the base paths instead of the plate… there is so much that changes without the score changing. The entire character of the game changes.
Small-ball is contagious. The power to manipulate a game in such intricate ways is part of why many, including me, love baseball. Removing an element that creates small-ball – by adding the universal DH, for example – may stymie the need or desire for the stolen base.
The 30-30 club may be a thing of the past; thanks to 2020.
