The DH is Here to Stay And Maybe There too.

[weams]

http://www.naplesnews.com/sports/columnists/david-moulton-how-fishing-trip-and-phillies-kept-d

The Phillies knew the Pirates would vote however they voted. Phillies owner Rudy Carpenter wanted the DH. His reasoning was simple, they had Greg Luzinski in left and a youngster named Keith Moreland pressing for playing time. Both were good hitters, not so good in the field. So Giles was sent to the meetings with the instructions to vote for the DH.

Carpenter goes fishing. When the measure comes up for a vote, a slight change was made saying that the DH would not go into effect for at least a year. The change made Giles pause. He wanted to contact his boss and ask if this changed his position on the DH. But it's the 1970s. Tracking someone down who has gone fishing was next to impossible. So Giles (and the Phillies) abstained. The Pirates, following orders, did as well. The vote for the DH was 6-4-2.

[Palmoripken]

http://www.naplesnews.com/sports/columnists/david-moulton-how-fishing-trip-and-phillies-kept-d

Well I hope for Carpenter's sake that the fish was the best he ever had. Interesting, I never knew that it came that close to changing. Honestly. While I am not anti DH, I am not anti pitchers hitting either. I definitely do agree about anti DH purists being obnoxious. It's been part of the AL game for the better part of forty years now and it has extended careers too.