Philadelphia Phillies: First taste of DH in 1997 wasn’t great

Major League Baseball says it intends to have all teams use a Designated Hitter in 2020 whenever a season gets underway, an unusual but not totally unfamiliar situation for the Philadelphia Phillies.

As we inch closer to playing baseball in 2020, it certainly looks like the Philadelphia Phillies and the rest of the National League will have to get used to the designated hitter, at least in the short term. Who knows what lies beyond this season, but the team should already be hatching a plan for how to handle it this year.

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This is far from the first time that the Phils have had to use a DH, of course. You can thank interleague play for that, as the Phillies have gotten to use a designated hitter for a handful of games each season since 1997. If you want to get technical about it, the first Phillies player to ever find a “DH” next to his name in a starting lineup was Keith Moreland in Game 3 of the 1980 World Series. But for our purposes, let’s discount 1980, 1983, and 1993, when the Phillies used a DH in the Fall Classic.

Let’s flip to 1997, the first year of interleague play, for a glimpse at how the Phillies first handled the novelty of having the designated hitter slot at their disposal in a regular season game. We got our first look at it on June 16 of that year, with the Phils playing their first ever road interleague game, which came against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. It was Darren Daulton who received the honor, batting third that night between Mickey Morandini and Scott Rolen. He went 1-for-5 in a Phils loss.

Daulton remained in the DH spot for the rest of the series, going 1-for-5 again in the middle game and then 1-for-4 with a home run in the series finale. But the Phillies left Boston winless, and they’d have to wait a few weeks to employ the DH once again. They’d get their next chance against the Baltimore Orioles, as they made their first ever visit to Camden Yards on June 30. And I was there.

Daulton got the DH assignment yet again, and he produced another ho-hum 1-for-4 night. The O’s won 8-1, and all I can remember from being at the game is Cal Ripken Jr. hitting a grand slam that absolutely, positively should have been caught by Phillies left fielder Gregg Jefferies. The fly ball hit by Ripken hung in the air for about five hours before hitting the top of the very short fence and bouncing into the stands while Jefferies stumbled and bumbled below it like he had never played baseball before. And in case you don’t believe me, you can refer to this recap that includes an assessment by Phils manager Terry Francona that says “I think that it was obvious that it was catchable. It’s a seven-foot wall. I’m not the greatest mathematician, but when you add it all together, you should be able to catch it”. Ouch.

Anyway, back to Daulton. He’d return as the DH in the next two games in Baltimore as well, going 0-for-3 and then 0-for-5. This DH thing was not working out for the Phils, who were now 0-6 on the road in interleague play. They’d get one more series to turn it around.

That opportunity came at the end of August against the Detroit Tigers, but Daulton had been traded to Florida by then (and was on his way to an improbable World Series win a few months later). So the Phillies turned to noted slugger Kevin Jordan for the series opener at Tiger Stadium. He went 1-for-4, and the Phillies lost again. The following night, the Phillies must have drawn names out of a hat in the locker room, because that night’s designated hitter was the one and only Mike Robertson. Don’t feel bad if the name doesn’t ring a bell. There’s no reason it should. Robertson played 22 games for the Phillies that year, which was his only action with the team. And not only that, but he never hit a single MLB career home run.

Hang on. Wait. Let’s recap this.

A baseball franchise that was already over 100 years old at that point is playing just the eighth regular season game in their history where they are allowed to put a player in their lineup whose sole job is to hit, without worrying about playing in the field. They are allowed to DESIGNATE A HITTER of their choosing. And they pick a guy who had zero career MLB home runs to that point and would ultimately never hit one. Hoo boy. Welcome to Phillies baseball.

So, of course, the Phillies won that game. Robertson didn’t do much, going 1-for-4 (did this happen every game?), but they got off the schneid nonetheless. The next night, Mike Lieberthal got a night off from behind the dish (Mark Parent‘s gotta play sometime) and stepped into the DH role, the final Phillie to get the opportunity in the inaugural season of interleague play. He went 1-for-4, and the Phillies lost. Ah, symmetry. The team went 1-8 using the DH, with the only win happening when Mike Robertson filled the role.

In the years since, the Phillies have had to employ a DH many, many times. Maybe I can explore these occasions in future articles, especially if there continues to be literally nothing else to write about. As far as a full-time DH in 2020 and beyond, I’m in favor of it. And that’s a bold statement, considering the scars that the initial impression of the DH left on me in 1997. (PS If you find yourself in the stands at Camden Yards and look closely enough at the wall, you can still see the ghostly image of Gregg Jefferies wandering the outfield, waiting to poorly time a jump for a ball that has yet to come down.)