40 YEARS AGO TODAY, SOMETHING DIFFERENT HAPPENED...

"On April 6, 1973, Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees became the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history, facing Boston Red Sox right-handed pitcher Luis Tiant in his first plate appearance. Blomberg walked."

That quote is from the Tennessean, read HERE. I wanted to post a piece that was not from New York, because the Designated Hitter is a big part of the game of baseball these days! Plus, Frank Daniels III sets the stage pretty great in his piece.

We interviewed Ron Blomberg here at Bleeding Yankee Blue.  In that interview, Steve Skinner asked him about it. Here's that exchange:

BYB:  Ron, everyone knows you as the first designated hitter in MLB history.  How did that come about, and did you enjoy it?

Ron Blomberg: Well, you know I screwed up the game in 1973 being the first DH.  To be honest, I thought I was a glorified pinch-hitter.  When I played DH, it was just a pinch-hitter.  No one knew what it would eventually be.  How I became it – I had a pulled hamstring down in spring training.  I came off a good year in 1972 and was having a good spring in ‘73.  They didn’t want to put me on the DL because we were supposed to break camp five days later .  They asked me if I would be the DH against Luis Tiant up in Boston.  I said “of course” because I didn’t want to go on the DL.  I thought it was going to die just like the designated runner did.  I never thought it was going to be this big.

Recently, I had Paul Konerko come up to me and thank me for extending his career five more years. 

Yes, I changed history in ’73 and 50% of the people liked it and 50% of the people hated it.  I don’t think the National League will ever adopt it.  It’s great to be part of baseball history and be noticed because of it.  People recognize me when I make airplane reservations or hotel reservations.  It’s really been fun for me. 

The full interview is here at EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: RON BLOMBERG.

So Happy Birthday DH and great work Ron Blomberg!  It's been an amazing journey and I'm happy to have Ron Blomberg as part of the BYB family.  Thanks again to Steve Skinner for nailing down that interview.

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