Obscure Sports Rules

[YoFuggedaboutit]

I agree 100%

Its not our fault that pitchers can't hit.  Why is that the only position exempt from any batting skill.  Learn your ass some hitting, chumps, this is the major leagues.

Pitchers shouldn't be treated any differently than any other position player.    Give him a bat and send him to the plate.  The DH is for sissies.

Actually, yes they should.  Pitching is the one position in baseball that requires the most skill from the field. 

Why can't pitchers hit?  Because they spend 80% of their time pitching and 20% of their time hitting.  Other position players,  including catchers, spend 80% of their time hitting and 20% of their time playing the field. 

A team's pitching staff is rated separately from the hitting and defensive ability of the team.

[jtex316]

Stop HiJacking my perfectly good thread!! 

I have another rare or obscure thing that happened.  It happened at SBC Park (Wherever the SF Giants play).  It was the Giants vs. Marlins.  A triple was hit off the right field wall. The Right Fielder leaped to try to catch it, couldn't, and then ran into a fence, which actually opens.  On the other side of this fence is a walkway in between the ballpark and McCovey Cove, where people can walk around and stop and look through (this is no charge). 

Anyway, the gate broke, and the umpire came over and had to call the groundscrew to fix it, and the game could not continue unless this thing got locked.  So this was a 10 minute delay.

[Brian Fein]

why is that an obscure sports rule?

And Tommy - you're wrong.  Every minute a pitcher is pitching, the fielders are fielding.  The pitchers pitch once a week, the fielders play every day.  There's no reason why a pitcher shouldn't be able to hit the ball.  He's a professional baseball player, he should play baseball.

[Dave Gray]

I prefer the NL where pitchers hit as well, for 2 reasons:

1) It adds much more strategy to when you pull a pitcher, double switch, etc. and managers actually have to manager.
2) It a natural equalizer to keep pitchers from getting too cocky or wild.  You're less likely to go head hunting if your own head is going to be in the batters box in the next inning.