Quarterly Journal of Political Science > Vol 2 > Issue 2

The Etiology of Public Support for the Designated Hitter Rule

Christopher Zorn, Department of Political Science, University of South Carolina, USA, zorn@sc.edu , Jeff Gill, Department of Political Science, University of California – Davis, USA, jgill@ucdavis.edu
 
Suggested Citation
Christopher Zorn and Jeff Gill (2007), "The Etiology of Public Support for the Designated Hitter Rule", Quarterly Journal of Political Science: Vol. 2: No. 2, pp 189-203. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00006020

Publication Date: 15 May 2007
© 2007 C. Zorn and J. Gill
 
Subjects
Public opinion
 

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In this article:
The Politics of the Designated Hitter 
Ideology, Political Party, and the DH 
Other Influences 
Data and Operationalization 
Analysis and Results 
Attitudes Toward Change in the Game 
Conclusion 
References 

Abstract

Since its introduction in 1973, major league baseball's designated hitter (DH) rule has been the subject of continuing controversy. Here, we investigate the political and socio–demographic determinants of public opinion toward theDHrule, using data from a nationwide poll conducted during September 1997. Our findings suggest that it is in fact Democrats, not Republicans, who tend to favor the DH. In addition, we find no effect for respondents' proximity to American or National League teams, though older respondents were consistently more likely to oppose the rule.

Taylor took us to Mets games. Only the National League, he said. We don't do DH. In his growing up in an academic family, there was a secular trinity: NBC, the National League, and the Democratic Party. Anything else was reactionary, racist, anti–intellectual."

– Bharati Mukherjee, Jasmine (1989).

DOI:10.1561/100.00006020