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From: schneider@vlnvax.DEC
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: the DH
Message-ID: <2090@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-May-85 11:22:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.2090
Posted: Thu May  9 11:22:18 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 11-May-85 20:48:33 EDT
Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP
Organization: DEC Engineering Network
Lines: 34

<
<>But why is it when all the National League partisans jump up and down about the
<>Designated Hitter, you never hear them complain about plastic grass, phony turf
<>and those ugly symmetrical super tv studios, sometimes called stadiums.  There
<>seem to be more of these abominations in the NL than the AL.  They're trying to
<>destroy the one remaining true ballpark in the league, Wrigley Field.
<
<As I said in an earlier article, while most change is deplorable,
<some is more deplorable than others.  What makes the DH unique is its
<deplorability is that it changes the rules of the game, while the
<other evils you list change the environment the game is played in.
<
If you imply that the DH changes the rules of the game in the rule book
then it is NOT unique at all, and I will assume all will agree that it
is not deplorable on this basis.  If you mean by "rules of the game" that
the game as changed then I contend:

	1.The basic relationship between the pitcher, the batter and
	  the fielders has not been altered in the slightest.  Thus
	  the fundamental game has not changed a lick!

	2.Stratagies have changed, NOT simplified, changed.  But not as
	  drastically as the aforementioned artificial turf has altered
	  the game.

The distinction between "rules of the game" and "environment" of the
game, is quite irrelevant in discussion of the DH.  I suggest we start
tabling the varieties of stratagies offered by having the DH vs. not
having it and also the long and short run effects it has on baseball,
its players and its fans.

		Daniel Schneider
		{decvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vlnvax!schneider