Quote: “Elements of baseball that have been treasured by purists are going to undergo some drastic changes.” Do you think that quote originated when changes took place between Fall of 2022 and Spring of 2023? If you said, “YES,” you are wrong!
It is a quote from Sports Illustrated, as we neared the summer of 1973, and it concerned a drastic, new, revolutionary rule that began the allowing of DESIGNATED HITTERS in the American League of Major League Baseball! The new rule had folks debating the “balance between scoring and defense” and what this change might do to what the major leagues had known as “fair and right” for what seemed to have been an eternity!
And, just who was the first DESIGNATED HITTER in the major leagues in 1973? Answer please: Ron Blomberg (pronounced bloomburg) of the loved or hated New York Yankees.
He “drew” a walk his first at bat—and then a couple innings later, he singled. That day against the Red Sox, Blomberg went 1 for 3 with a walk and an RBI. He finished his “injury-hampered” career with a .293 batting average and .319 as a pinch hitter.
But, back to recent rules changes that concern a time clock for “pitches, pitchers, and batters—designed to speed up play so that games will last only two or three hours instead of four or five.” Look for the “clock updates” next week.
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