South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has made a number of extreme proposals during his campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. A ban on modern multi-purpose semi-automatic firearms, packing the Supreme Court, and eliminating the Electoral College (and giving California the ability to tilt presidential elections) are just some of the highlights.
In addition to all that, Buttigieg has expanded his agenda to include removal of one of the best things to happen to baseball: the designated hitter. In the last 53 years, it is arguably the best innovation in terms of America’s pastime. For one thing, it has reduced the risk to pitchers.
There have been some high-profile pitcher injuries due to their need to take part in the offensive aspect of baseball. One of the more notorious in recent years was that of Milwaukee Brewers Jimmy Nelson on Sept. 8, 2017. While diving back to first base during a game against the Chicago Cubs, the Brewers’ arch-rivals in the National League Central, he suffered a partially torn anterior labrum.
Nelson left the game and missed the entire 2018 season rehabilitating the injury after shoulder surgery. This year, he has been a shadow of the pitcher that had emerged as a credible top-of-the-rotation starter for the competitive Brewers. As a small-market team, Milwaukee didn’t have the resources to quickly trade for or sign a replacement like the Los Angeles Dodgers or their arch-rivals in the Windy City can.
The risk doesn’t just attach to small-market teams. In 2008, New York Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang also suffered an injury while running the bases. After winning 19 games as a top-of-the-rotation pitcher in both the 2006 and 2007 seasons and finishing second in the voting for the AL Cy Young award in 2006, he would bounce between the majors and minors for the eight years after his injury. To date, he has a total of 14 wins with a 6.01 ERA in stints with the Yankees, Washington Nationals, and Kansas City Royals and is currently out of Major League Baseball.
The risk of a career-altering injury like those suffered by once-promising pitchers like Nelson and Wang, of course, are not the only reason that Buttigieg’s call to end the designated hitter should be ignored. Let’s look at a few Hall of Famers who reaped the benefits of this piece of baseball innovation.
Milwaukee Brewers legend Paul Molitor, who served as a DH in the latter part of his career (which included stints in the American League with Toronto and Minnesota), is perhaps the best example. Injuries limited his playing time, particularly in the 1980s. When he moved to primarily serve as a designated hitter, he had some of the best and healthiest seasons of his career. Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski also extended his career as a designated hitter, garnering All-Star honors in his last two seasons. George Brett of the Kansas City Royals extended his career as a designated hitter too.
A ban on this position would catch almost every baseball team off guard. Legends like the ailing Miguel Cabrera would be pushed into retirement by teams that can’t risk playing them on defense. The designated hitter has also become enmeshed into the fabric of baseball at every level, from high school to the minor leagues. It has also been adopted across the world, with the exception of Japan’s Pacific League joining the National League here in the United States as the only holdout.
Buttigieg really should think twice before he wrecks baseball with an extreme solution to a non-problem. Baseball with the designated hitter is doing just fine, thank you. What would Pete propose next, a ban on using artificial turf as a playing surface?
Harold Hutchison has 15 years of experience covering military issues for multiple outlets.
