Columnist Dean Juipe: Selig wrong to think DH expendable

Dean Juipe

Friday, Oct. 8, 1999 | 10:43 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084.

Bud Selig brought this on himself.

The baseball commissioner has said he will push for the American League to abolish its designated-hitter rule during the coming offseason. The AL has had the DH since 1973 and even though the fans are comfortable with the sport's divergent rules, Selig, suddenly, is not.

As president of the Milwaukee Brewers, Selig voted for the DH when it was instituted 26 years ago. Now, as part of baseball's attempt to further "centralize" its two leagues, he's advocating the DH be eliminated.

He wants pitchers to bat, just as they do in the National League.

Hey, Bud, have you been watching the division playoffs this week?

As always, NL pitchers are batting and looking terrible doing it. And, as always, AL designated hitters are producing runs and at least presenting opportunities for excitement.

As someone who grew up idolizing an American League team but then spent 10 years covering one in the National League, take this as a fairly objective analysis: Baseball is better with the DH.

Right now, with the heightened awareness of the playoffs, is a perfect time to study the ramifications of the debate. It's an especially good time to review how inept NL pitchers not only are at the plate, but on those rare occasions when they actually reach base.

Hopefully, Selig saw Houston pitcher Shane Reynolds run through his third base coach's "stop" sign and be tagged out by several feet at third during Game 1 with the Atlanta Braves.

And, better yet, hopefully Selig saw Arizona pitcher Randy Johnson get doubled off second base during his team's first game with the New York Mets. Johnson later admitted he forgot how many outs there were with teammate Tony Womack at the plate, and when Womack flied out to left it was ridiculously easy to double off the wayward Johnson.

In all probability he was thinking about how he was going to pitch to the Mets the following inning. A DH, obviously, would not have had those distracting concerns.

But beyond these baserunning foibles is the real bottom line: Pitchers put only minimal effort into their hitting skills and, despite what DH antagonists say, there is no strategic benefit to having pitchers come to the plate. Neither fans nor NL managers toss and turn at night debating when to let a pitcher hit or when to pinch hit for him.

The strategy issue is really no issue at all.

What will be an issue for Selig when he presents his case at baseball's winter meetings is this massive obstacle: the players' union. Designated hitters are some of the highest-paid players in the game, and the Major League Players Association is not going to stand by and allow those men to lose their jobs just to appease Selig.

Nor can he appease the players' union by offering something, like an extra roster spot, in exchange for the DH.

Just this year baseball has done away with its American and National league presidents and centralized its umpiring assignments. It is also working toward a more cohesive interleague schedule, and Selig deserves credit for his input.

But he's wrong about the DH.

If anything, the National League should adopt it.