Even with the lowered pitching mound, the hitters were not keeping up with the pitchers. In 1972, American League teams scored a meager 3.47 runs a game and there were just six .300 hitters. Only Dick Allen and Bobby Murcer hit over thirty home runs while the Texas Rangers (who had been the 1961 expansion Washington Senators) batted .217 as a team. To gain perspective, it should be noted that the "hitless wonder" World Champion 1906 Chicago White Sox had a team batting average of .230.
It wasn't that there weren't many good hitters because there were. The American League had Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Reggie Jackson, Dick Allen, Carlton Fisk, Joe Rudi, Lou Piniella, Boog Powell, Bobby Murcer and John Mayberry while the National League had Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell, Willie McCovey, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Billy Williams, Pete Rose, Ted Simmons, Cesar Cedeno, Tony Perez, and Lou Brock. These hitters, many future Hall of Famers, were finding the pitching was getting better and better.
Some owners decided that adding a hitter would help to alleviate the problem. The pitcher would not bat. Each manager would designate a player who would replace the pitcher in the batting order. It was a tenth "position" but one that required no defensive skills since the designated hitter would never play in the field. The only time he would leave the bench was when he came to bat or had to be on the bases. If the designated hitter were used defensively, the team would "lose" its designated hitter position and the pitcher or replaced defensive player would be required to bat. But there was a major league problem. The National League would not go along. The American League passed the rule anyway. Now there really was a difference between the leagues.
It is ironic that the American League has the designated hitter because many years ago, in December, 1928, National League President John Heydler proposed designated hitters for pitchers. New York Giants' manager John McGraw endorsed the proposal, which gave the idea much prestige, and the National League promptly passed it but the American League rejected it, which prevented its implementation.
The ramifications of the designated hitter rule are enormous. A new game was created despite the protestations of those who made the change that it was only a minor modification. It was a major, revolutionary change because pitchers no longer faced line ups that included pitchers.
