The rules don't allow a position player to pinch hit for the DH. But if another pinch hitter is used for the DH, you cannot have another person DH and the pitcher must bat in that spot.
Fascinating - I've been a BB fan since age seven, and I've never heard that. Has it ever happened?
The only way to pinch-hit for a player is to use someone off the bench. A starting pitcher is not permitted to bat in the game unless listed in the lineup at the start of the game. A relief pitcher can only bat in the game if he first pinch-hits for a position player (or the DH) and then takes the mound.
A pitcher who is not involved in the game can actually be placed in the starting lineup as a DH. I seem to remember the Yankees doing this once with Rick Rhoden back in the 1980s -- they had a string of injuries, and since he had been a decent hitter in the National League and they were facing a pitcher against whom he had had some success in the past, the manager (Billy Martin?) used him as the DH.
Using a pitcher as a DH like this is extremely rare, but at one time it wasn't always so -- the "Earl Weaver Rule" changed all that. Anyone who knows what the "Earl Weaver Rule" was should stand up and take a bow -- you really know your baseball!
Interesting. I never knew that rule. I always thought that if there was an American League pitcher that could hit (I know, hypothetical question), that it would be acceptable to have him DH while pitching.
Since you seem to know the rules, how about this scenario that I never get a good answer on: Let's say that the Red Sox have a very agile outfielder (another hypothetical), the bases are loaded with nobody out, and a ball is driven deep, deep to center field. This outfielder takes a flying leap over the Yankee bullpen fence, smashes into Mariano Rivera and Jose Contreras, knocking them over like bowling pins, and makes an over-the-shoulder catch and robs the Yankees of a grand slam while still in the Yankee bullpen! This outfielder then has the presence of mind to fire the ball to the second baseman who then fires the ball to the first baseman FOR A TRIPLE PLAY! Remember, the Yankee runners are probably all the way to home plate by now, assuming it was a home run because the ball went into the bullpen.
Whenever I bring this scenario up to somebody, they usually say that this is an illegal play because once the player is out of the field of play, it is an automatic home run. But I say that if this is the case, then why do we often see catchers and first or third basemen diving into the crowd to catch a foul ball? If that counts as an out, then why can't a center fielder climbing (or jumping) into the bullpen make an out as well?