Baseball Way Back: Baseball welcomes the designated hitter

With the possibility of a universal DH looming and baseball purists resisting the idea, it might be worth taking a look at an earlier test run of the designated hitter.

I first heard about it when I was a student in Champaign. I would stop by my friend Gene's house to watch "Cheers," eat some loosely defined home-cooked food, generally something with rice, and help him drain the contents of a six-pack.

We were two fairly carefree students at the university who enjoyed wide-ranging discussions that ran the gamut from our Shakespeare professor, an owlish looking fellow who actually knew Dylan Thomas, to whether the Sox had been smart to trade their Cy Young-Award winning pitcher for a shortstop named Ozzie.

It was the ramen version of "My Dinner with Andre."

During one conversation, he offhandedly remarked that the designated hitter, as originally conceived, was supposed to be a player who would be available throughout the game as a pinch-hitter, rather than occupying a regular position in the lineup.

I was intrigued, but didn't bother to look it up until recently. What I discovered was even more intriguing.

So here is a trivia question for you. Who was the first designated hitter for the White Sox?

Technically, the answer is Mike Andrews, who on April 7, 1973, in Arlington, Texas, went 1-for-3 in a 3-1 Sox win against the Texas Rangers.

In his first at-bat against the Rangers' Dick Bosman, Andrews popped out to shortstop Toby Harrah.

But that answer is only correct if you are looking at regular season stats. It turns out that during the spring training campaign in Florida in 1967, Sox manager Eddie Stanky used a "designated pinch hitter."

On March 6, it was reported that baseball would allow the White Sox to use this DH - called, in subsequent spring season experiments prior to the adoption of the DH, the DPH - in place of the pitcher twice in each game during the spring campaign.

The announcement was made in Sarasota, Florida, by Stanky, who proposed the plan weeks before, and a representative from American League President Joe Cronin.

As implemented, the Sox would be allowed to use it only in their games against American League opponents and only in games in Sarasota. Opponents would also be allowed to use it.

A player would be "designated" as the pinch hitter before the game and would not be allowed to bat twice in the same inning unless his turn at bat came up again when the team batted around.

Sox general manager Ed Short had asked league headquarters for permission and suggested that it could be adopted for league play that very season.

According to a March 7 report, Kansas City A's owner Charlie Finley sent word that he liked Stanky's "twice-a-game" pinch hitter idea.

The Sox already had a prodigious pinch-hitter in the ancient Smoky Burgess, who, until Jerry Hairston came around, would hold the team's record for pinch hits. Short said teams might see the advantage of carrying a superior pinch-hitter like Burgess, who, at the time, also held the major league mark for pinch hits and is still fourth on the all-time list.

Short said fans would also enjoy seeing the careers of hitting stars extended. Hitters like Ted Williams might have benefited from such a rule.

Stanky was described as "elated," pointing out that MLB hadn't had a major change since the spitball was outlawed in the 1920s.

And so it was with much fanfare on March 10 in Sarasota that Bill "Moose" Skowron strode to the plate as the first Sox designated pinch hitter against the Boston Red Sox and promptly walked. Skowron didn't even get to bat twice in the game.

Mike Andrews, by the way, was in the lineup at second base for the Red Sox.

The 36-year-old Skowron wasn't exactly thrilled at the role, telling reporters, "I'm not thinking about being a pinch hitter yet." Pointing toward first base, he said, "I want to play right out there." And, indeed, Skowron would start at first base the next day against Cincinnati.

Skowron, who, until his death in 2012, was a regular fixture at White Sox events as a community ambassador, would only play eight games for the Sox during the regular season in 1967. He was traded to the California Angels for Cotton Nash, who would be playing first base for the final out of Joe Horlen's no-hitter that year. After 62 games with the Angels, Skowron would retire.

The first Sox designated pinch hitter to bat twice in a spring training game was Bill Voss on March 13 against the New York Yankees. He would walk twice. In fact, the only Sox batter to get a hit that day would be a pitcher, Dennis Higgins.

Six years later, a very different concept of the designated hitter would emerge as a permanent fixture in American League lineups.

The Sox would reap the benefits, extending the careers of future Hall of Famers Harold Baines and Frank Thomas.

The National League might find it worth considering Stanky's plan as a compromise the purists might accept.

It could be the best of both worlds. Those who want to keep seeing pitchers bat will have it their way. And those who want to see sluggers prolong their careers will have their way as well.

And while MLB is at it, maybe it should take another look at reinstating the spitball.

• Reach Steve at szalusky@dailyherald.com