The Tenth Man

Not since the early 1900s, when fouls were ruled to be strikes, had such a curve ball been tossed at baseball tradition. Last week the owners of the 24 major-league baseball teams decided to add a tenth man to the lineup in the American League. A pinch hitter will be permitted to bat for a pitcher without the pitcher's having to leave the game. If it works for the American League, the National may give it a try.

The reason for the change is a desire to enliven the game; American League attendance is falling off. When the experiment was tried in the International League three years ago, batting averages increased 10%, runs scored rose 6%, and the games on an average took six minutes less to play; changing pitchers is one of the most time-consuming procedures in baseball.

The new rule will make some pitchers happy: Mickey Lolich of the Detroit Tigers, for example, who won 22 games last season but batted a woeful .067. But other pitchers like to take their turn at the plate, however ineffectually they may swing. To be cut out of batting is tantamount to being half a ballplayer--a shrunken specimen of a noble species. Casey Stengel put it all into perspective: "This is a ruling where you're trying to gain a run, and they have made enough runs in the last three or four years with the lively ball, and I would say there is nobody hitting .400, so there's some method in which any time you try a new rule."

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