The Player’s Union will never get rid of the DH. It will be in the National League eventually.
Right. Players want another big contract and owners want extra offense. It’s a done deal. They’re just trying to figure out how to spring it with the least resistance.
Major League Baseball adopted a rule change in 1980 that requires the starting DH to bat at least once in a game, unless the opposing team changes pitchers before the DH comes to bat.
This rule was known as the "Earl Weaver Rule," and was passed to outlaw an interesting strategy Weaver used in home games late in the 1980 season when he was managing the Baltimore Orioles. He would submit a starting lineup with a player in the DH spot who he had no intention of putting in the game (usually the next game's starting pitcher). He would then pinch-hit for the DH the first time the DH spot came up in the lineup, inserting his regular DH in the lineup at that point. He apparently figured this gave him a very small advantage of changing his mind depending on how the top half of the first inning unfolded ... with Baltimore coming to bat in the bottom half of the inning tied 0-0, down a run or two, or facing a lopsided score if the opposing team put a lot of runs on the board.
This tactic was particularly absurd in a couple of games where the next-game starting pitcher he put in the DH spot wasn't even in the ballpark that day -- having traveled ahead of the team to a road game in another city.