Players say DH should go

In a survey, 23.4 percent of players favored ousting the designated hitter.
By KEN DAVIDOFF
NEWSDAY
NEW YORK -- Baseball, more than any other sport, loves a good debate -- even if it doesn't always adore the subject matter. How serious a problem is steroid use? Does the QuesTec system hurt umpires more than it helps? In light of the Yankees' acquisition of Alex Rodriguez, does baseball have a competitive balance problem?
But when the Tribune newspaper chain reached out to all 30 Major League Baseball teams, charting the opinions of roughly two-thirds of active players, the most intriguing result concerned an "oldie but goodie" -- the designated hitter.
Players answered 10 questions, the last of which was open-ended: "What one rule would you change?" After "no change," which gathered 28.2 percent of the vote, the most popular response was, "Eliminate the DH." Fifty-nine players, or 23.4 percent of those interviewed, volunteered such a rule change.
"The pitcher should bat in either league," said Colorado Rockies pitcher Shawn Estes, who pitched for the Mets in 2002. "The pitcher needs to work in both leagues. Pitchers are athletes, too."
The majority of players surveyed opined that baseball does not have a competitive balance problem; that they do have a responsibility to be role models; that World Series games needn't start earlier in the day; that steroids were not a problem; that they would not be bothered by having a gay teammate; and that QuesTec is not working.
Designated dinosaur
Whereas steroids, QuesTec and competitive balance are hot topics throughout the game, the designated hitter is, by comparison, the has-been issue that no one discusses anymore. This is the 32nd consecutive season that the designated hitter has existed in the American League, while the National League continues to operate without it.
When an AL club takes on an NL club in regular-season interleague play or the World Series, the home team dictates the rules. The DH is used in games at AL ballparks, while pitchers hit in NL ballparks.
Commissioner Bud Selig has vowed many times that he would like to settle the DH issue once and for all. But it's unlikely to change anytime soon. The owners would like to rid the game of the DH, primarily because those players tend to be highly paid veterans. The union wants to preserve the role for the same reason.
The 59 DH abolitionists, therefore, went against their union. Another 14 players expressed similar frustrations over the DH disparity, saying that baseball should either rid itself of the DH or make it a reality in both leagues.
Selig himself expressed surprise over the high number of players against the DH. But he admitted it would be very difficult to modify the status quo.
"At the moment, the National League clubs will never go for it," Selig said. "The American League clubs like it. It's going to take some kind of cataclysmic event, like overall realignment, to end the DH."
Said Don Fehr, the union's executive director: "My thoughts on the DH are pretty simple. I think the overwhelming sense is that in American League cities and among American League players you get one answer and in National League you get the other."
The next most popular change suggested was to shorten the regular season -- an alteration, what with the finances involved, that has minimal chance of taking place.
What imbalance?
On the issue of competitive balance, the players proved to be more in sync with their union. Two hundred eighty-two players, or 59.4 percent of those surveyed, said that competitive balance was "not a problem." Only 11.4 percent, in comparison, described it as a "big" problem.
"In baseball, anything can happen," Chicago Cubs catcher Michael Barrett said. "The Florida Marlins last year were the perfect example."
The Marlins defeated the Yankees in last year's World Series, even though the Yankees' payroll was more than double the Marlins'.
Prior to the 2002 collective bargaining agreement, Selig declared a profound competitive imbalance existed in the sport. Now, he says, "There's no question we really do have a lot more parity than three or four years ago. This vote is a manifestation of that. It'll get better."
"It seems, to me, pretty obvious in most places this year," Fehr said.
Perhaps no question elicited more profanity than the one about QuesTec, the computerized system that measures balls and strikes in about half of the ballparks. Both players and umpires have been extremely critical of the system.