Why does KilltheDH.com want to see Major League Baseball eliminate the Designated Hitter? Primarily, because baseball is a game that is meant to be played by 9 players on each side. If you play the field, you should have to hit, and vice versa. Some of the most exciting moments I’ve seen in my decades of watching professional baseball have come from a pitcher at the plate. Whether it was Jon Lester laying down a great, walk-off bunt, Kerry Wood hitting a game-tying, 2-run shot to tie up Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS, or Jake Arrieta just being Jake Arrieta in the 2016 playoffs.
I’ve clearly given away my fandom here, but this site will celebrate many great pitcher’s hitting, Chicago Cub or not.
We’ll dive much deeper into this topic in the coming days and months. We’ll explore some DH compromise scenarios that have been proposed in the past, any news surround the position’s status in Major League Baseball, and dive deeper into some other reasons the DH should not be a part of this great game, including, but limited to:
- The Slippery Slope Argument – When will catchers who don’t hit well enough become a problem for the pro-DH crowd? Will we have two DHs someday soon? Or more?
- The impact on young players – how early will kids need to decide if they’re going to focus on just pitching? Traditionally, the best athletes in high school baseball are the pitchers and shortstops – how many great hitters would this game have missed out on if some of them felt the need to give up their hitting position in their earliest years of competitive baseball?
- Tradition – This is not always my favorite type of argument, but the National League existed for 144 years before it’s first (NL-only) game with a DH. In 2020, the MLB “solved” an imaginary problem.
- Strategy – Baseball is a game of choices, of trade-offs. It’s part of what makes it so interesting. Have a one-run lead late? Hmm…do you keep our slugger who’s a below-average outfielder in there to try and pad the lead? Or do you bring in the defensive specialist to help your bullpen save the lead? The DH allows you to side-step this question more often. The lack of a DH forces a manager’s choice more often. National League Baseball, for most of my life was simply a more interesting game.
Not everything on this site will be a rant. However, as the name suggests, a lot of what you find at KilltheDH.com will be strongly worded opinion about the current state of Major League Baseball, which, despite Rob Manfred’s best efforts, still remains the greatest example of the greatest game on Earth.
To be clear, we here at KDH have no desire to see any harm come to Hall-of-Famer Edgar Martinez, who only spent 29.7% of his career games fielding a position. The same goes for David Ortiz, another Hall-of-Famer, who DHed for all but 12.1% of his career games. And on a serious note, sadly, Big Papi has already endured enough actual physical harm in recent years and we don’t condone any violence – we simply would like to see the position of Designated Hitter, at the Major League Level (and below) be eliminated and put to rest for good…for the good of the game. Again, KDH is not about anger or violence, it is about passion for this great game.
With all of that said, we’ll discuss a lot more than just the Designated Hitter and why it should go away her at KilltheDH.com? We’ll also cover rule changes, rumors about possible rule changes, and the impacts they may have or already have had. We’ll highlight umpire antics, talk about the coming generation of robot umpires, and discuss what players, teams, or even managers have benefitted the most from them.
The joy of baseball in general and those who play the game at the highest level will be other major topics here. Whether it’s a player profile, a breakdown of an amazing moment in last night’s game (or that one game seven years ago), or the potential road to the Hall of Fame for current or recently retired players, we here at KTD, will celebrate the specific joys that only baseball can provide.
Finally, we here at KDH consume a good deal of baseball media. So we’re also highly likely to talk about that and want your feedback too. We’re planning to make a post, which hopefully, will remain active for a long time to come, with a running list of your favorite team’s media and your favorite national media – from podcasts to bloggers to radio and TV broadcasters. We want to know who you all think is the best and keep a running list, by team, of your favorites.
Hopefully, you can find some joy in reading what we have to say here as well, even when your joy comes in the form of our frustration. Loving something or someone is never easy, you want that noun in your life to be their best all the time, and you don’t want to let them down either. Part of love is living with the flaws and the pain caused by it, and ultimately, KDH is all about leaning into that pain. Maybe that’s just the Cubs fan in me talking, but I think it translates outside of the Friendly Confines of my memories of Harry Carey, Steve Stone, Bill Murray and Shawon Dunston. I look forward to hearing your feedback and interacting with you in the comments section, whether you disagree or agree with us.
