Oh, Those Purists

This is sweet.  MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said last week that he sees a softening of anti-DH animus among National League owners, which has fed speculation the DH could come to the NL as part of the next players’ agreement in 2017.  And I say anyone who disagrees is a no-good purist.

The anti-purists could always be heard or read touting the joys of interleague play or an extra round of playoffs.  In Chicago at least, a good deal of those people identify with the Cubs.  Take manager Joe Maddon, for example.  He just loves all the moves that come with having the pitcher bat.  (The double-switch, be still my beating heart.)  So do the broadcasters.  I wonder how they’ll like being called purists for standing in the way of change.  My guess is they won’t make that much of a fuss because, in the end, they’re all good company men (and I do mean men).

They’ll probably let it go after saying something like the columnist in Sunday’s Tribune.  He wrote that, “Baseball is too great a game to be ruined by a rules change, so if it happens we all will just have to deal with it.  But for some of us, the best part of National League baseball is the strategy.  Baseball is a thinking person’s game, after all.”  And here I’ve always loved baseball for its simplicity vs. the choreographed complexity of the NFL.

But for the columnist, “watching Jake Arrieta hit a home run is almost as fun as watching him pitch, and who can forget ‘Big Z’ [Cubs’ pitcher Carlos Zambrano] breaking the bat over his knees after striking out?”  Here’s another way of looking at it: Arrieta hit .152 last season with 2 homers and 2 rbi’s while Zambrano, whose temper may have helped wear out his welcome in the big leagues, managed 24 career homers, 71 rbi’s and a .238 batting average.  I’ll take a good DH any day.

Mr. Columnist wants things to stand as they are and “let NL fans enjoy watching the game played the same way it was more than a century ago.”  If someone blows up the new, state-of-the-art Cubs’ clubhouse or the light standards, we’ll know who to blame.