Designated Hitter Research Paper

Baseball is not the game that you thought it was. It has not been since 1973 when the first designated hitter was used. A designated hitter does not play defense, their one and only job is to hit for the pitcher. It has made the game stray away from its roots. Many say the designated hitter has improved baseball by making it more entertaining but in reality these players are ruining the sanctity of the game because they do not follow the same rules that all of the other players have to follow. The designated hitter changes how baseball is played dramatically. It creates a divide in the fan base and is now argued over almost every day. A designated hitter can be seen to have special treatment because they do not have to be out in the field on defense as well as not having to worry about their playing time. In 1972 the first designated hitter was Larry Eugene Hisle, who batted for a pitcher apart of the Minnesota Twins in a pre-season game (Nillson). Hisle ended up hitting a home run with two runners on base as well as a grand slam in the game. A grand slam is when a batter hits a home run with runners on first, second, and third base. The designated hitter was …show more content…
This would not be fair to the pitchers that enjoy hitting because they are very dangerous hitters and enjoy the challenge that hitting produces. This would also make the games more boring because there would be a lot of runs scoring to the point where the game is no longer interesting. The argument about this is that there are more pitchers that do not know how to hit which creates imbalances in the fairness of the game. The imbalances would be when an American league team plays at a National leagues stadium which would mean that the American league teams pitcher would have to hit. But these pitchers do not hit on a regular basis so they are more prone to have an accident and get