Andrew---In other words, for one day in his major league life Mel Stottlemyre was an extreme outlier at the plate, almost as extreme an outlier as would be Tony Cloninger hitting two grand slams in a single game a couple of years later. (Stottlemyre at the plate lifetime: .160/.213/.223 slash line; his .160 BA two points below what pitchers as a class actually hit from the end of the last Dead Ball Era decade through the end of last season. Want to see a lineup full of .162 hitters? Sure---if they're hitting against nine Dick [Dr. Strangeglove] Stuarts.)
By the way, it isn't just veteran players who'll be slotting into lineups' DH slots. (Managers have been using the slot for a very long time for such assorted causes as giving regulars a little rest from defense and giving plate appearances to players not quite ready to become regulars but whose bats are live enough to justify the PAs. They've also used the slot to decide whether the days' pitching matchups suggest either a second cleanup-type hitter or a second leadoff-type hitter in the number nine slot.)
It isn't just the MLBPA or the owners who'll be thrilled over the universal DH. Multitudes of fans---including me, and I was a stubborn holdout against the universal DH for a very long time, at least until seeing things as they really were and not as some romantic misunderstanding of "tradition" held---said (or would have said, if they'd seen it), "Amen, brother," when Thomas Boswell wrote three years ago, "It's fun to see Max Scherzer slap a single and run it out as if he thinks he's Ty Cobb. But I'll sacrifice that pleasure on behalf of getting rid of the thousands of rallies I've seen killed when an inning ends with one pitcher working around a competent No. 8 hitter so he can then strike out the other pitcher. When you [got] in a jam in the AL, you [had to] pitch your way out of it, not ‘pitch around’ your way out of it.”
Dan, is one of the few bloggers who have picked the Cards to win the Central. Most have gone with the Brewers
Andrew---In other words, for one day in his major league life Mel Stottlemyre was an extreme outlier at the plate, almost as extreme an outlier as would be Tony Cloninger hitting two grand slams in a single game a couple of years later. (Stottlemyre at the plate lifetime: .160/.213/.223 slash line; his .160 BA two points below what pitchers as a class actually hit from the end of the last Dead Ball Era decade through the end of last season. Want to see a lineup full of .162 hitters? Sure---if they're hitting against nine Dick [Dr. Strangeglove] Stuarts.)
By the way, it isn't just veteran players who'll be slotting into lineups' DH slots. (Managers have been using the slot for a very long time for such assorted causes as giving regulars a little rest from defense and giving plate appearances to players not quite ready to become regulars but whose bats are live enough to justify the PAs. They've also used the slot to decide whether the days' pitching matchups suggest either a second cleanup-type hitter or a second leadoff-type hitter in the number nine slot.)
It isn't just the MLBPA or the owners who'll be thrilled over the universal DH. Multitudes of fans---including me, and I was a stubborn holdout against the universal DH for a very long time, at least until seeing things as they really were and not as some romantic misunderstanding of "tradition" held---said (or would have said, if they'd seen it), "Amen, brother," when Thomas Boswell wrote three years ago, "It's fun to see Max Scherzer slap a single and run it out as if he thinks he's Ty Cobb. But I'll sacrifice that pleasure on behalf of getting rid of the thousands of rallies I've seen killed when an inning ends with one pitcher working around a competent No. 8 hitter so he can then strike out the other pitcher. When you [got] in a jam in the AL, you [had to] pitch your way out of it, not ‘pitch around’ your way out of it.”