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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!astrovax!fisher!david
From: david@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin)
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Whither the DH
Message-ID: <418@fisher.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 20-Nov-84 08:36:38 EST
Article-I.D.: fisher.418
Posted: Tue Nov 20 08:36:38 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 21-Nov-84 00:47:31 EST
References: <1198@dciem.UUCP> <2194@ucla-cs.ARPA> <> <2517@cornell.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Princeton Univ. Statistics
Lines: 18

All minor leagues use the DH, though the NL sent out a directive
forbidding their farm clubs from using it against one another. Thus,
when Richmond plays Tidewater, the pitchers ARE the DH's. 

As for the DH itself, it was supposed to create more offense (as if
offense is the goal), but AL games average on the order of a tenth of
a run more scored than NL games.  The creators of the DH neglected
many of the second order effects which favor the DEFENSE, such as
enabling a team down one or two runs to stay with their present (and
usually more effective) pitcher in a situation where he would normally
be pulled for a pinch hitter. Thus, the AL gained little offense, but
did take a giant step towards specialization. In the name of "better"
defense and "better" offense, where can we stop short of free
substitution? 

Baseball was never broke, so why did the AL have to "fix" it?

						David Rubin