Phillies TV, radio broadcasters weigh in on the universal DH
By Matt Rappa
Scott Franzke
“I think independent of this current situation, it was coming anyways with the next CBA. At least that’s what the prevailing thought is.
I know a pitcher getting a big hit is few and far between, but I think it’s still a fun thing to root for in baseball. I think that [some] pitchers take it seriously, because they know the incremental advantage it gives them. [Max] Scherzer is the current-day example of it. But, I know from having watched Doc, how much better he got in one year’s time, how serious he took it and how much he understood it mattered to the overall game — that he could do something with the bat. He knew that would keep him on the mound longer. I loved the fact that he and today Scherzer, guys like that, take it so seriously and get so much pride. They know what it means for them on the mound and, by extension, of course, for their team in the game.”
Larry Andersen
“I’m a big proponent of pitchers hitting, as much as I was scared to hit. Because there’s strategy. To me, when you take the pitcher out of the equation, you don’t need a manager. You just need a pitching coach to make a pitching change. What else do you gotta do?
You look at Edgar Martinez. He’s in the Hall of Fame, but for me, it takes away from Ryne Sandberg being in the Hall of Fame. Because you got guys going to the Hall of Fame because they can hit and couldn’t do anything else. Back in the day, if you couldn’t do anything else, you couldn’t play. I think it’s a slight on guys, who are just one-position, one-dimensional players going in the Hall of Fame, when you had so many great players.
There were guys that weren’t very good defensively, but they were so offensively that they had to be put in the lineup.”