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1998 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Major League Baseball's adoption of the Designated Hitter. Purists all across the land cursed that day one quarter century ago when "one dimensional ball players" were hired simply to hit.
[If I may digress: This is an interesting position since the National League is the ONLY baseball league which does NOT use the DH. Minor leagues, colleges, high schools, and most Little League programs employ some version of the Designated Hitter]
Throughout these 2 decades, the debate raged on the expansion or the abolishment of the DH. World Series and All Star game rules had to be adjusted to accommodate the issue.
Last season, with the emergence of interleague play, baseball fans saw an opportunity to bring the game back to one set of rules for all. With "Interim Commissioner for Life" Bud Selig's Milwaukee Brewers realigning to the National League, it appeared that the groundwork was set to address the issue.
Indeed. Last week, the Major League Owners sent notice to the Players Association of their desire to abolish the D H in 1999. Randy Levine, the Owners' Lead Negotiator, followed the outlined the procedures in the Collective Bargaining Agreement; giving the players a minimum of one year's notice for any unilateral change in the playing rules.
Oh, one small item which was not included in Mr. Levine's letter of justification--the average Designated Hitter was paid $3.8 Million in 1997...including the hefty $9.2 Million Cecil Fielder contract.
It did not take long for Association Director Donald Fehr to respond to Levine's inquiry. After respectfully disagreeing with the Owner's position, Fehr writes: "Are memories of your clients so short that the clubs are willing, if not anxious, to go out of their way to perpetuate an adversarial relationship with the players?... Don't make us clean your clocks again!!"
Meanwhile, Randy Levine responded with rhetoric of his own: "the Player's Association, in all instances, always protects its rights under the agreement and rules. This is nothing more than the clubs doing the same".
Isn't it nice that both side have buried the hatchet??
What this entire issue points to is the exact same issue which shut the game down in 1994: control of Major League Baseball. Fehr and the Association wants to make it perfectly clear that nothing happens in baseball without the players' okey dokey.
It is obvious that Fehr does not want to relinquish his title of "the Real Commissioner of Baseball" and will squash any attempt to challenge his authority.
Meanwhile, it will be only a matter of time before the owners snap back up to attack Commissioner Fehr and the players.
The real moral of this story is not whether there is a future for Cecil Fielder or Paul Molitor, but rather that the bitter feelings between the owners and players have not evaporated. Fehr and the players do not want anything to destroy their stranglehold of the game.
Meanwhile, you know that this latest development will be put on the agenda for the next owners meeting. This might be waving a red cape in the face of a bull!! Could this be the first step of the new version of corporate tug-of-war between millionaires and multi-millionaires??
Boys and girls, let's have a quick history lesson. Although baseball has proven its resiliency time and time again, fans are still sensitive about the last labor dispute. When the players finally returned in 1995, the fans did not immediately come back in droves. Here we are in 1998 and the attendance is just starting to rise.
Hopefully, both parties are not suffering from short term memory lapses.
Both Mr. Levine and Mr. Fehr are Designated Hitters of sort, as they are the mouth pieces for their respective affiliations. Perhaps both gentlemen should spend some time out in the field before return back to the plate swinging.
You know, when you look at it that way, perhaps the Owners are right in wanting to abolish the DH.
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