10 Reasons to dislike the DH in Cardboard form

The 2020 baseball season was weird and short and weird. Among the weirdest was the universal DH. I miss pitchers batting. I miss double switches and I miss pinch hitters and I miss pitchers facing just one batter. In honor of the pitcher batting and hopes of seeing it again, here are my top 10 reasons to embrace the traditional 9 hole hitter.

10. Closers Batting
Above we have 1,201 career saves and 9 career hits. When was the last time you saw a guy with over 300 career saves sliding into a base? Very rarely does it happen, and very really do it go well, but it's still intresting.

9. Old School Pitchers Hitting
How great are these three cards with the flapless helmets.

8. Warm-up Jackets
These seem to have been out of fashion for a while, but how cool is a warm up jacket with your name and number on the back.

7. Hitting Dingers
Chicks dig the longball, from the classic Tim Hudson card, to German Marquez hitting a home run off a position player, to Jon Gray hitting one 467 ft.

6. Bartolo Colon
Speaking of dingers, Topps sure loved the legend of Bartolo Colon, and really who didn't?

5. Pre-Interleague A.L. Pitchers hitting
Mostly pre-season, although the wonderful weirdness of baseball with Roger Clemens getting his first career hit in his first career at bat in his 13th season in a game in which the Red Sox moved their DH to field, moving the pitcher into the line-up.

4. Pitchers hitting walk-off bombs
April 25th, 1986, Craig Lefferts enters a tie game in the 11th, gives up a run the top of the 12th, then hits a walk-off bomb in the bottom of the 12th, and yes, there is video of it, and it is glorious.

3. Jim Abbott
Born without a right hand Abbott still managed 2 career hits and 3 RBI. Also very weird is the amount of cards of him batting even though he never had a regular season plate appearance with the Yankees or Angels.

2. Pitchers Looking Ridiculous
Honestly, do you want cards of fat old guys that don't even own a glove, or stuff like this. You would miss horrible hitting pitchers, you know you would.

1. Pitcher Plays at the Plate
Maybe the most famous baseball card photo, Thurman Munson and A's pitcher Chuck Dobson along with an obsolute gem that might be a double rarity, a pitcher running, and a catcher collision at the plate.

There it is, maybe more on the way, but this should really be enough to convince any baseball fan.

Card of the Day, 1971 Thurman Munson

Here it is in all it glory. The 1971 Topps #5 Thurman Munson. Not his rookie card, but his first solo card and what a beauty. This is probably my favorite card of all time, 1971 is my favorite set of all time, frustrating to collect (inspiring the name of this blog) but also rewarding when you find a well centered, sharp cornered diamond in the rough. Open up binder with a 1971 set and first page, right in the center is this card, impossible not to notice. Also as a huge fan of action shots featuring catchers all geared up, this card is brilliant. And who doesn't love the Topps All-Star rookie cup trophy in the corner. The weird thing about loving this card is that I usually hate horizontal cards, but with the awesome photography this one works. The card was reprinted in 2010 as part of the "Cards Your Mom Threw Out" insert set, giving collectors a cheaper option to add this classic card to their collection. Random fact: The Oakland A's player sliding head first has been found to be Chuck Dobson, a pitcher. Just think, if the AL had the DH in 1970, this work of cardboard art would have never happened. Another reason to dislike the DH in baseball.