Article below published in USA Today on 9/6/2004:

Renewing the DH debate
WHY ELIMINATING THE DH IS GOOD
•Quicker games.

Without the extra offense and the mid-inning pitching changes, the NL games have a better pace. (Last year was an exception — the AL played two minutes faster.)

•More strategy.

The more decisions a manager has to make, the more interesting the game. Having a pitcher come to bat forces more decisions. Also, with lower-scoring games, runs are at a premium and NL managers are more apt to employ strategies such as squeeze plays, hit-and-runs, etc. to manufacture runs instead of waiting for the proverbial three-run homer. (Related item: Ex-manager Sparky Anderson weighs in)

•No need for more offense.

The DH was instituted in an era dominated by pitchers. We're in one of the top run-scoring eras.

•Reduce beanball wars.

With the pitcher hitting, he's less inclined to knock down a hitter because the retaliation will be aimed directly at him when he bats. Over the last five years, AL teams averaged 60 hit batsmen a season. In the NL, 55 batters a team were hit by a pitch.

•With so much interleague play, the rules of the game should be uniform.

•It's not football.

Defense is part of the game for everyone. What next — unlimited substitutions to match the NFL's specialization?

What they say

"I think there should be the same rule for both (leagues), and I'd vote for cutting the DH. ... I think you see more of the total game (in the NL). There are a lot of parts of the game that are really beautiful that you don't see that often in the AL ... a lot of the offensive and defensive things you use to make or stop a single run."

— Tony La Russa, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, who managed Oakland and the Chicago White Sox in the AL.

"I personally am tired of the game being stacked in the batter's favor. With expansion having diluted pitching talent around the game, you've seen run production increase to levels that went through the roof. ... (Also), it really gets rid of one of the challenges of baseball — managing the roster during a game. ...

"(In the Braves-Mets playoffs of 1999) you saw a chess match between Bobby Cox and Bobby Valentine as they had to manage their batting orders and pitching staffs along with bench players to keep competing. It was artwork and a prime example of how the sport can be a head game."

— John Fontana, 24, of Palm Harbor, Fla., who has run an anti-DH Web site for five years. (http://abolishthedh.stonegauge.com)

"Well, I believe in the soul ... the small of a woman's back, the hanging curveball, high fiber, good Scotch. That the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter."

— Crash Davis, fictional minor leaguer played by Kevin Costner in Ron Shelton's classic baseball movie, Bull Durham.

WHY ELIMINATINGTHE DH WON'T WORK

•It's not hockey.

Fans love offense, and the AL gives them more of it. AL teams scored 5.0 runs a game over the last five years compared with 4.8 in the senior circuit.

•Protect the Rally Monkey from extinction.

There's nothing worse than seeing an exciting rally thwarted by a weak-swinging pitcher striking out.

•Star power, part I:

Fans can see players who are nursing minor injuries that would prohibit them from playing the field. Or a manager can give a player a "rest" day and still DH him.

•Star power, part II:

The DH has extended the careers of several popular and high-profile players who would have been forced<