The Big Bang of the DH
Larry Hisle with the Minnesota Twins (Getty Images photo)
Sad moment for baseball purists 51 years ago today as Larry Hisle of the Minnesota Twins officially becomes the game’s first designated hitter in an exhibition game against Pittsburgh.
Oh, sure, the American League toys with the concept of the DH in previous spring trainings, but this is the first time the DH becomes a permanent position after American League owners two months earlier decide to forever alter how the game is played.
Hisle on this day in 1973 ends up with two homers and seven runs batted in during an exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, launching an era in which American League pitchers never again have to pick up a bat and hit for themselves in a league game.
Ironically, Hisle – an outfielder by trade – does not appear again as a DH until the 1975 season, and even then just for 15 games.
Hisle spends 10 seasons in the American League with Minnesota and Milwaukee from 1973-82. Over that decade, Hisle appears in 883 games, but is the DH in only 136 of those games.
Some players, predictably pitchers, do not embrace the addition of the DH in 1973.
“Primarily, every rule change over the past 10 years has been against the pitchers – lowering the mound and the designated hitter,” Cleveland pitcher Gaylord Perry says at the time.
“The designated hitter rule,” says Rick Wise, one of the best pitchers during the 1970s to swing a bat for himself, “is like letting someone else take Wilt Chamberlain’s free throws.”
Ron Blomberg
In the meantime, Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees becomes the first DH in a regular-season game when the American League season opens on April 6, 1973 in Boston.
Historians note that Blomberg – in that first historic at-bat as a DH – draws a bases-loaded walk off Luis Tiant, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead en route to taking a 3-0 lead before the Red Sox come to bat in the bottom of the first.
Not that the Red Sox care as they rally for a 15-5 victory before a Friday afternoon crowd of 32,882 at Fenway Park.
As for Blomberg, he singles in his next at-bat off Tiant in the third inning before later grounding out to second baseman Doug Griffin and flying out to left fielder Tommy Harper.
Boston’s DH that day – future Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda – goes 0-for-6 with two strikeouts.
“I screwed up the game of baseball,” Blomberg whimsically says in 2003 – 30 years after becoming his debut as the first regular-season DH. “Baseball needed a jolt of offense for attendance, so they decided on the DH. I never thought it would last this long.”