Bud Selig on the DH in the NL: “Never say never”

The sight of an American League manager trying to cope with his DH playing first base, his first baseman sitting on the bench and all of the various pitching and pinch-hitting choices at his disposal, whether they were made or bypassed, is one of the many takeaways of Game 3 of the World Series.

Might it one day be a thing of the past? Bud Selig says there’s no movement afoot to expand the DH into the National League, but he did note the folly of claiming that nothing will ever change yesterday:

My friend [Phillies chairman] Bill Giles once said to me, ‘You know, I like the controversy between the leagues. I think it’s good.’ Having said that, I did say three or four years ago that I had strong feelings on [expanded] instant replay. And, like everything else in life, you make adjustments and I now have somewhat different feelings. So I’m never going to say never to anything. But at the moment is there anything going on? No. If somebody has something to say, I’m glad to listen.”

Eventually I think it will be a point of financial negotiation, not a preference for the AL style of play over the NL that will rule the day and expand the DH into the National League. The union will see the value of a higher-paid player in the form of a veteran DH occupying a roster position than another reliever or bench bat. The league will continue to march on toward uniformity and the dissolution of historical relics that once distinguished one league from another. We’ve seen it in just about every other area where the AL and NL were once unique.

And while those of us who grew up more familiar with the NL than the AL may moan about it a lot, we’ll all get over it.