Designated Hitters in the National League?
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James Joyner | Tuesday, March 8, 2005 |
Well, just in the spring:
Spring fling? Giants want Bonds to DH at home (ESPN-AP)
Wanting to ease Barry Bonds into the exhibition season, the San Francisco Giants asked the commissioner’s office for permission to use a designated hitter during spring training home games.
The Cincinnati Reds were given permission last weekend to use a DH in five home games starting Thursday so that Ken Griffey Jr. can bat without playing the field. “After I read that the Reds had approached MLB on this issue and were granted approval, I decided to call MLB myself and ask that Barry be accorded the same privilege while he recovers from his knee surgery,” Giants assistant general manager Ned Colletti said Tuesday. “What MLB told me was that as long as we offered the visiting team the same opportunity to use a DH during one of our home games and contacted MLB before do it. It would be OK. “I can’t image a team saying no to this,” Colletti said. “They would have the same opportunity to give a batter at bats using the DH rule.
I’d rail about the insult to the game that this represents and how baseball is going to hell in a handbasket but this is, after all, just spring training. If they can split their squads into two, play against college teams, and stop play with a tie, why not allow the DH?
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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And why not go with some aluminum bats while we're at it? ;-)
I m no baseball purist, indeed, only a marginal fan, so I can't get upset about it--especially since it seems to me the Spring Training is even less "real baseball" than the exhibition season in the NFL is "real football."
I thought all those steroids are supposed to make these guys STRONG?
I'd rail about the insult to the game that this represents and how baseball is going to hell in a handbasket...
"Going"...?
So Baseball is not only going to make an exception for Barry Bonds and allow him to break the HR record while having been on steroids, but now they are going to change the rules of the game just for him and allow the DH in the NL for training games?
What the hell else, allowing him to take 3rd if he walks? What, is Bonds the first player ever who has been injured in the taining camp and cannot play. What the hell gives? I would like to believe the game is bigger than Barry Bonds. Although it may not be bigger than his head.
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