NEWSLETTER
Baseball fans who participated in a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling say they prefer pitchers hitting.
And do so convincingly (55 percent) across multiple demographics [Brett: Head explodes.].
Thirty-three percent of respondents among baseball fans said they preferred the designated hitter, while 12 percent of respondents answered “not sure.”
The poll surveyed 1,471 registered voters from May 7-10, with 80 percent of the interviews coming over the phone and 20 percent via the internet. It also has a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percent.
Among the poll’s most interesting findings:
You can read some of the bigger picture findings here and the full results of the sports poll here.
The designated hitter coming to the National League can be as polarizing of a topic as it gets among baseball fans. It has its pros (more offense, one set of rules, no more of this) and cons (forced specialization and uniformity among leagues, no more of this).
And definitely no more of this:
Major League pitchers own an average slash line of .089/.102/.103/.205. National League pitchers aren’t much better are slashing .116/.136/.143/.279.
The average designated hitter is slashing .250/.327/.386/.712.
Not sure if any of that statistical information was on the minds of poll respondents. But it’s there for you. And certainly there for MLB executives if they want a reason to make a change.
