Time for a Change
June 17, 2008 2 Comments
It’s going to be at least another six weeks before Yankees fans will get to see this site of Chien-Ming Wang walking off the bump in the Bronx. Why? Some say he should’ve known how to round the bases at Minute Maid. Others, like myself and Hank Steinbrenner, are in the boat that thinks that the rules of the NL are pointless and archaic.
As Hank put it: "My only message is simple. The National League needs to join the
21st century. "They need to grow up
and join the 21st century. Am I [mad] about it? Yes,"
Steinbrenner added. "I’ve got my pitchers running the bases, and one of
them gets hurt. He’s going to be out. I don’t like that, and it’s about
time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s."
I’ll be honest, I don’t particularly care for Hank or his outspoken antics, but in this case he’s absolutely right. This is like the Eastern and Western Conference or AFC and NFC having a different set of rules. This slight altercation really does change the course of a season. The statistics for pitchers and hitters are dramatically different in the AL and NL, and now we see players getting hurt. Chien probably should be in good enough shape or coordinated enough to round third base, but these rules are simply arbitrary at this point. It’s time for Bud Selig to assign the DH to the NL as his last act as commissioner. Wasn’t he around in the 1800′s too?
how about the pitcher hits in both leagues. It would be like in basketball a player doesn’t play defense and only plays offense. Its the same in baseball.
The NL rules are not pointless and archiac, they reward pitchers who are athletic or multitalented. It’s guys like Cole Hamels and Braden Looper that refute the reputation of baseball players as “unathletic” or “asian”. This is no surprise coming from the team that once employed the likes of David Wells and Hideki Irabu.