The First DH

The Designated Hitter will officially turn 50 tomorrow.  The groundbreaking change of having an extra hitter bat instead of the pitcher took effect for American League games in the 1973.

Opening Day was April 6th at Fenway Park with the Yankees visiting the Red Sox in the afternoon's first action.  With Luis Tiant on the mound for Boston, Matty Alou doubled with two outs in the top of the 1st inning.  After walks to Bobby Murcer and Graig Nettles, Ron Blomberg made his historic at-bat.  It proved productive, as he worked a walk and forced in Alou with the game's first run.  Felipe Alou added a two-run double to boost the Yankees lead.  

Boston's inaugural DH was Orlando Cepeda in the bottom of the same inning.  But Blomberg's walk minutes earlier opened the new era, and made him baseball's first DH -- and as the proud Jewish-American player loves to point out alternatively, "Designated Hebrew" -- earning him a forever place in history.  

For the record, Blomberg later added a hit, and went 1-for-3 on the day.  The Yankee pitcher -- whose at-bats Blomberg took -- was Mel Stottlemyre, ironically one of the game's better hitting pitchers.  The Boston lineup roughed the longtime Yankee ace, scoring eight times in the first three innings and rolled to a 15-5 win. 

(This image is from Ron's appearance at the Yankees 2013 Old Timers Day, where he marked the 40th anniversary of the DH.  Monday, he kicked off the celebration by throwing out the first pitch before the Yanks hosted the Phillies.)

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