[abell1198]

The response to the designated hitter rule was fast and relentless. No sooner had the rule been announced that the sportswriters and baseball purists spoke up loudly against it.

"Herring Tries To Destroy Baseball" & "Don't Fix It If It Ain't Broke" were just a couple of the headlines in response to the rule. And it didn't take long for information about James' correspondence with Ephraim to come to light.

James was accused of implementing the designated hitter rule solely to help Ephraim get playing time at Rutgers. While James denied the accusation, he couldn't help but wonder if Ephraim's letter about pitchers not being able to hit influenced him to look into the rule. So James looked back and saw that 1874 was the first season that no pitcher had won a Golden Bat Award. However, when he researched the league's statistics, it looked as though pitcher's batting averages were low overall, with a handful of exceptions.

With that, James was content with his decision. When asked, he told the sportswriters the rule could always be changed back, should it not work as he imagined. James returned to his New York office, where he finished the 1875 schedule and looked forward to another great season of collegiate baseball.