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“There is no reason.”

Yes there is, it’s called money. In 1972 the team batting average for the American league was .239. That meant that less than one in every four plate appearances resulted in a hit...putting the ball in play and reaching first base without a mistake (error) by the defending team. If there were no errors during a game that meant that there would be less than 7 baserunners in a game. And of those outs, if four batters struck out, that mean there was no play at all even a put out. In 1973, the DH was implemented.

The DH was created for two purposes, first to try to provide offense. Pitchers notoriously were not good hitters. There have been a few, but not many. So the owners substituted a pinch hitter every time to make contact and protecting the pitchers’ field position so they could, well, continue to pitch. Secondly, it added years to aging ballplayers that couldn’t field or run bases well anymore but could go deep with one of their at bats and fill the seats. Recognition money.

Now toss the new and improved product on to the TV and you are guaranteeing money to the clubs to use for exuberant salaries even to the point of using them to make players stars, which most were not.

Summing it up, it all had to do with money for the teams especially the owners. So it’s not the game. The game was played in the early years by drunks and dope users who took bribes from gamblers before they decided to try to sell the game as wholesome which they don’t even really try to do anymore.

So expect batting averages in the NL to go up with the DH, ERA’s to go up, slugging percentage to go up as much as the position provides, stolen bases to go down, sacrifices to go away, and players to get even more money for playing half a game. And on the average, the individual MLB players played between 47 and 104 games during the 2019 MLB season. So should they be members of the individual state athletic unions or of the academy of arts and sciences?

wy69