Former slaves playing it? Not on Cap Anson's watch. Or during the long reign of the first commissioner, a federal judge named Kenesaw Mountain Landis, an unabashed racist renowned for the number of his court decisions that were overturned. He's the jurist who had black heavyweight champion Jack Johnson banned from boxing for transporting a white woman across state lines for the purpose of prostitution.
Through all those decades when America was still recovering from history's bloodiest civil rebellion, the pitcher was required to take his turn at bat. Much of the game's strategy evolved from that unfortunate requirement. The pastime's founders - whoever they really were - didn't decide, "Hey, these guys can't hit a lick; how about if we permit a real batsman to hit for the pitcher? There will still be nine men in the field. We'll just get some big, dumb coal miner or farmer to take the pitcher's turns at bat. It'll be a good thing because it will give a man who can't run or catch a chance to play and fans will get to see more scoring."
Proponents of such an outlandish and radical concept were always shouted down when the rules committees and owners got together. Hell, they'd outlaw doctoring the baseball, a craftsman's art, before they'd make the pitcher stop making a fool of himself.
Well, the American League voted in the DH in 1973 and I don't want to hear a whimper about how the biggest difference between the Yankees and Phillies in the World Series was the presence of DH Hideki Matsui. The Japanese slugger was the Series MVP despite starting just three of the six games - and driving in seven runs in Games 2 and 6, both played at Yankee Stadium.
