Quote:
Originally Posted by Ike348
I play baseball for my high school team. Last year, as a freshman on the freshman team (yes I am 15), I would be DHed for every single game. I am a not a pitcher, but a great fielding second baseman who can't hit for anything. So, the guy who can't field but can hit really well DHed for me. Also, there was another freshman pitcher last year, Danny Boehmer, that was so good that he was the #1 pitcher on the varsity team. He was DHed for EVERY SINGLE GAME, which led to 3 plate appearances the entire year. I would assume the same is happening with guys across the country, and when the Danny Boehmers make the major leagues, they will have gone almost 10 years without hitting in a live game, give a few Pas here and there.
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Funny story: I was at end of my cohort (born July 11, league cutoff July 31) so I was smaller than most kids in the cohort, and they got bigger faster, so I became afraid of a fast pitched ball. (I was an exclusively RH hitter against almost universally RH pitchers in Little League. I am now a switch hitter in an adult league.) But I was also a slick fielding 3B, the best in the league at the time. The DH was brand new and I lived in an AL town, so I asked to be DH'ed for, and the coach agreed to do it. I still made the All-Star team as a 3B.
The next year I had a new coach who was not going to put up with my nonsense and forced me to go to the plate--mind you, he wasn't going to coach me or anything, he was just going to make me go to bat--where I was frozen stiff, striking out looking constantly. One game, middle of the season, my oldest brother came up to me while I was on deck and offered me a 1/4 pound of M&Ms for every base I got, if I would get a hit. Lo and behold, I got a triple! After that I pushed down my fear and actually became one of the better hitters on the team.
And the moral of the story is: Never underestimate the power of the candy incentive.