For Rosh Hashanah, Ron Blomberg Was First Designated Hitter
By Joe Guzzardi
Ron Blomberg, baseball’s first designated hitter, grew up in Atlanta where hearing anti-Semitic slurs was a regular part of his young life. As Blomberg recalled, “I heard it. I saw it. My parents [Billie Rae and Sol] had always told me you have to have a strong faith, you will always have adversities in life, people will be against the Jews, that I had to watch out for it and had to be a lot stronger. If somebody said something to me along those lines, it made me even stronger. My conviction was strong.” Blomberg’s childhood dream of playing for the New York Yankees and in front of the Bronx’s large Jewish population came true when the Yankees made Blomberg their first free agent choice in 1967. Said Blomberg, “To be able to play in front of eight million Jews! Can’t beat it. I lit everyone’s candles for every bar mitzvah in the city.”
It’s no fault of Blomberg’s that the designated hitter (DH) ruined baseball’s reputation as the thinking man’s game, a well-earned nickname. To understand, imagine that Pittsburgh Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh’s 1958 team is clinging to a 1-0 lead against pennant race rival Milwaukee in the bottom of the eighth. Starting pitcher Bob Friend is tossing a gem and has held Braves sluggers Joe Adcock, Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews at bay. The Pirates have two runners in scoring position. But it’s Friend’s turn to bat and he’s a career .148 hitter. Sending in a pinch hitter is the obvious move, but Murtaugh’s bullpen is tired and his bench, thin. Murtaugh’s decision, right or wrong, is the stuff of great baseball high drama and will be debated on the air, in print and at the dinner table. The DH relegates one of baseball’s biggest appeals—second-guessing the manager, the old Hot Stove League pastime—to the dustbin.
The idea of a DH was first raised by Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack in 1906. Mack saw the DH’s value not necessarily as an option to generate offense but to save wear and tear on his pitcher’s legs. Owners rebuffed Mack’s concept as too radical. Prominent pitchers also rejected the idea of giving up hitting. In 1910, Hall of Fame twirler Addie Joss stated, “If there is one thing that a pitcher would rather do than make the opposing batsmen look foolish, it is to step to the plate, especially in a pinch, and deliver the much-needed hit.” A 1918 article in Baseball Magazine quoted Babe Ruth, who stated, “The pitcher who can’t get in there in the pinch and win his own game with a healthy wallop isn’t more than half earning his salary in my way of thinking.”
The DH, which American League owners foolishly put into place in 1973, has taken much out of the game but added little, least of all the clutch hitting the rule was supposed to supply. Instead of more excitement, the DH created endless rounds of silliness as the American League adopted the idea first, but the National League didn’t follow until several years later. During the World Series, games played in American League stadiums used the DH; games in National League stadiums did not. The annual All-Star Game also juggled DHs depending on which league hosted the game. Finally, on February 10, 2022, Commissioner Rob Manfred, who never met a rule change he didn’t embrace, announced that a universal DH would begin with the 2022 season. The rule was ratified as part of a new collective bargaining agreement with the MLBPA.
An outfielder/first baseman, Blomberg’s career started with a bang. An injury to Yankees veteran Roy White opened a 1969 roster slot and Blomberg took full advantage. He started in right field in a home game against Washington on June 25 and went 2-for-5 with two hits, including a two-run homer, two RBIs and two runs scored in the Yankees’ 12-2 victory. Four days later he went 3-for-4 against Cleveland, driving in two more runs as New York pasted the Tribe, 9-2. He clubbed two home runs in a game at Minnesota on August 1 and two more round-trippers at Kansas City on August 28. In 64 games, Blomberg batted .322 with seven home runs and 31 RBIs.
By 1973, Blomberg had a new role as the Yankees’ DH. Unsure exactly what that involved, manager Ralph Houk explained to him, “You get up to bat, you take your four swings, you drive in runs, you come back to the bench, and you keep loose in the runway. You’re basically pinch-hitting for the pitcher four times in the same game.” The Yankees opened 1973 against arch-rival Boston at Fenway Park. Blomberg was penciled in as the sixth batter on manager Houk’s lineup card. Boston’s DH was Orlando Cepeda, the former NL star who signed with the Red Sox in the off-season after playing a year in Oakland in 1972. Red Sox skipper Eddie Kasko slated Cepeda to hit in the five-hole. Since the Yankee-Red Sox tilt was the first game scheduled on the AL docket, Blomberg was the first-ever official DH batter. With the bases loaded, Blomberg drew a walk from Sox starter Luis Tiant, which allowed the runner on third to score for an RBI. For the day, Blomberg went 1-for-3; Cepeda, an inglorious 0-for-6.
Injuries cut Blomberg’s Yankees time short, and in 1978, he finished up with one unhappy, unproductive season with the Chicago White Sox. His career statistics included a .293 batting average with 52 home runs and 224 RBIs. Blomberg’s stats are not up to Hall of Fame standards, but his first DH bat and the uniform he wore that historic day are on display. In retirement, Blomberg stays close to baseball. He runs the Ron Blomberg Baseball camp and is one of the most popular instructors at the Yankees fantasy camp. He does some high school and college scouting for the Yankees from his suburban Atlanta home. In 2007, Blomberg managed the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox of the first-ever Israel Baseball League. In 2008, Blomberg and Dan Schlossberg co-authored his autobiography, Designated Hebrew.
Blomberg, age 77, is in high demand as a motivational speaker, telling his story of perseverance and success. “Boomer,” as his Yankee teammates called him, works with the Israel Cancer Research Fund, where he serves as honorary chairman. He resides in Roswell, Georgia, where by all accounts he’s a great guy and generous to all.
Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com
