Where does this come from, and can I check it?

The American League let a batter replace the pitcher in the lineup that season. The figure is taken from Major League Baseball, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a sports fact?

Yes. It sits on the Sports shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

The designated hitter arrived in 1973

The American League let a batter replace the pitcher in the lineup that season The rule was adopted to add offence, since pitchers were usually weak hitters. The National League resisted for decades and pitchers batted for themselves until 2022, when the universal DH was introduced. The change ended a long-standing difference between the two leagues. It sits in Mondo's sports collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Major League Baseball

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

Sports trivia

More facts like this

The strike zone spans the width of home plateIt runs from the knees to a point midway between shoulders and belt Baseball settled on nine innings in 1857The first convention of baseball clubs fixed the length and other rules Major League Baseball added a pitch clock in 2023Pitchers get 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 with runners on Baseball began video review in 2008It started with home run calls and expanded to most plays by 2014 Cal Ripken Jr. played 2,632 games in a rowHe passed Lou Gehrig's long-standing baseball record in 1995 A baseball pitcher's mound is ten inches highThe rubber sits 60 feet 6 inches from the back of home plate

Tags: baseball, designated-hitter, rules

The designated hitter arrived in 1973: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: The American League let a batter replace the pitcher in the lineup that season. The figure is taken from Major League Baseball, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a sports fact?: Yes. It sits on the Sports shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.