Quote:
Originally Posted by mmaddog
The DH was created for 2 reasons:
1) To prolong the career of the "twilight" players who could still hit but were too slow, fat, or lazy to play defense....
2) To help the Union, players Reps and the players add money to their pockets.
mmaddog
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I want to add one more reason. The American League owners voted in favor of DH to spike fan interest, boost offense and sell tickets.
In the early 70s, the National League was coming off a decade where they had Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Koufax, Gibson, Rose, Morgan, Stargell, McCovey, Marichal, Bench. They had the marquee players in the game.
On the other hand, the Yankees dynasty faded with Mantle retiring and the Orioles and Athletics weren't enough to get people jazzed about the Junior Circuit.