Few subjects in sports spark more heated debates than the designated hitter (DH) rule in baseball. Some people love it, most baseball purists hate it and some teams can't live without it. I mean the 2004 Boston Red Sox probably wouldn't have won the World Series without the clutch hit of DH David Ortiz.
Sunday was the 35th anniversary the first DH was used in Major League Baseball. Since then, the rule and position have become so engrained in the sport that there would probably be more of an uproar if it was abolished than it does as current rule.
Tuesday night, the Memphis Tigers baseball team snapped a nine-game overall losing skid and an eight-game losing streak to Mississippi State thanks to a 10th inning walk-off single by DH Cole Shelton.
"I like (the DH) because I guess you kind of get to relax (on defense) for a little bit," Shelton said. "But, I've always been to where I like to be in the field because I'm in constant control of the game. The only reason the DH is in there is to hit."
The position, which is only practiced by the American League in MLB, is practiced in the minor leagues and in college. Being one of the only significant rule changes in baseball in the last 35 years, the DH has its ups and downs. For one, it allows teams to bat a strong hitter in the place of the pitcher without making that hitter apart of the defensive rotation.
In turn, teams don't have to send pitchers, which are usually very poor hitters, to the plate for what basically turn out to be a guaranteed out. There really isn't anything in sports as pathetic as watching a National League pitcher try to swing the bat. If they do make contact with ball, it's usually on accident which often times results with the pitcher injuring themselves.
Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it's no secret that when pitchers come to the plate, no one is telling the outfielders to scoot back and guard against long balls.
However, opponents of the DH claim that it gives an unfair advantage to teams, particularly in the Major Leagues when one conference has the DH while the other does not get that luxury. Furthermore, anti-DH advocates claim that the rule undermines the purity of the game.
In one of the more memorable quotes from the minor league baseball movie "Bull Durham," Kevin Costner said, "There should be a constitutional amendment outlawing astroturf and the designated hitter."
In traditional baseball rules, nine players are supposed to field and nine players are supposed to bat. Since the pitcher fields, they should have to bat like everyone.
Since baseball is an antiquated sport built on traditions and rules created over 100 years ago and since baseball is the sport that has changed the least out of the major American sports, things like purity are really important.
Ok, maybe that was an exaggeration, too. Sorry, Jose Canseco. I'm just saying that if you're still going to keep records that were set in the 1880s, a lot of people are going to want to keep the same rules as well.
But is the DH really that bad? It has helped to prolong and reinvent the careers of some of the greatest baseball players of the past 25 years. Hall of Famers Paul Molitor and George Brett became DH's at the end of their careers after injuries left them ineffective on defense.
Careers like seven-time all star Edgar Martinez or 2004 American League Championship Series MVP "Big Papi" Ortiz probably wouldn't have existed without the DH. As a result of the DH, Martinez played 17 years for the Seattle Mariners and is considered to be the best DH of all time.
Since Martinez retired in 2004, Ortiz has become one the biggest names in baseball. The better guys get at just hitting, the less concerned they are about fielding. This makes it more acceptable for aspiring major leaguers to become "batting cage" prospects only concerned with hitting.
But, since one of the biggest knocks against baseball is its lack of action, people concerned with the sport's commercial appeal are not going to encourage abolishing a rule that reduces home runs (the most exciting play in baseball).
DH's like Molitor and Ortiz possess the ability to change and even win games for their teams with clutch hits late in the game. As long as the designated hitter remains the late inning go-to guy, it isn't going anywhere.
Rest easy, Cole Shelton. You will definitely live to play another day.
