Change Up by Larry Burke

Author:Larry Burke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale
Published: 2014-05-09T04:00:00+00:00

ANTI-DH SENTIMENT

Not surprisingly, there was an undercurrent among traditionalist players and fans who didn’t like the new rule. After all, it was a violation of the game as it had always been played. Others had a negative reaction at first but came around.

JIM KAAT: I wasn’t in favor of it and never have been. Selfishly speaking, those of us who were starters back then when it came on the scene, we benefited because we got a chance to stay in games a lot longer and pick up four or five more wins a year than we may have gotten without the rule, but I was disappointed that it gave us two different leagues playing by two different sets of rules. That never made sense to me.

WHITEY HERZOG: No part of the DH is good! The original idea was to prolong the careers of fading stars like Harmon Killebrew. Now the DH is a bad defensive player, like the guy in Boston [David Ortiz]. I think it originally added .8 runs per game in the AL. And for that it takes the strategy out of the game. It changed the game too much.

RALPH HOUK: Honestly, I didn’t like it, wanted no part of it. I wasn’t sure it would be good for our club, whether it would put us at a disadvantage to teams that had more offense. Going into the season I really didn’t know who the DH would be, or if we would go with one guy or move hitters in and out of that spot. But then, as I began to get into it, I thought this was very good for the game. Back when it was first proposed, we needed something. Attendance wasn’t anything like you see today, not just in New York, but all over the American League, and fans like offense. Plus I thought it would keep the older stars, some of the biggest names in the league, in the game, and you had players like Orlando Cepeda and Frank Robinson prolonging their careers.

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