In retrospect, he was in the right place at the right time, and that made all the
difference.  Even if it was by accident.  So, as Ron Blomberg stepped in against the
Boston Red Sox’ Luis Tiant on April 6, 1973, baseball was assured of another
historical event.  And, when the Yankees pushed three runs across in the top
of the first, Blomberg –hitting sixth- was given a unique opportunity.

His at-bat signified the birth of the Designated Hitter, and the subsequent
rebirth of aging sluggers all throughout the American League.  The DH, once thought to
be nothing more than a gimmick to attract more fans, will celebrate its 33rd season
next month.  And, while there is no particular significance in the anniversary year,
Blomberg –who ushered in the new rule change by drawing a bases-loaded walk-
has recaptured the moment in a just-released memoir entitled, “Designated
Hebrew” [Sports Publishing LLC, 256 pp, $19.95].

The book, co-authored with veteran baseball writer Dan Schlossberg, has been
a work in progress for the past decade.  “Several years ago, at a Yankees’ Old-
Timers Day,” Blomberg, 57, related, “Dick Schaap [the renowned journalist, who
passed on in 2001] said to me, ‘You were the first DH and no one can ever take
that away from you’.”

“Yeah, I screwed up the game of baseball.”  The comeback was as appropriate as
it was sincere.  “Then again, you’re talking about the Designated Hebrew.”

Such tongue-in-cheek humor had provided the title.    Both Marty Appel, who was
the team’s Director of Public Relations during the 1970s, and Jane Leavy, who
had authored “Sandy Koufax -A Lefty’s Legacy” in 2002, further encouraged him.  
But, when the retired player continued to be asked about his legacy, it was time to
write.

The story had long been in place.  Blomberg was born in Atlanta to Jewish parents
and raised in the northeast section of DeKalb County.  He grew to be 6’1, 205, and
was, subsequently, tabbed by the Yankees [who intended to play him in rightfield]
with the Number One overall pick of the 1967 Draft –but only after he had returned
from Westwood [Ca.], where he had signed a letter of intent to play basketball with
UCLA.  [The Trojans were led by legendary coach John Wooden, and featured
future NBA great Lew Alcindor [later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar] and Mike Warren, who
would later co-star in Hill Street Blues.]

“I knew, after playing an All-Star Game at Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium, that I
would be taken in the Top Five,” Blomberg recalled.  “But, when the Yankees
approached me with the news that I would go No. 1, my dream had come true.  
Mickey Mantle was already my favorite player.  And, I got to play in front of the
best fans in the world.”

The thrill of being selected first -as well as meeting Mantle and, subsequently,
playing inside Yankee Stadium- was just the beginning.  He soon realized that
New York also has the largest Jewish population in the country.

“A Southern Jew is much different than a New York Jew; we didn’t know about
Orthodox people.  So, living here did make me strong.  I respected my heritage
and am very proud of my religion -I would never play on either Rosh Hashanah or
Yom Kippur.  When I was in New York, I belonged to every synagogue and temple
in the northeast.

“I was very blessed to be a good athlete, and to play with the Yankees.  
Unfortunately, I was injured quite a bit.  But, because I had met so many good
people there, I had a great ride.”

Koufax, who began his Hall-of-Fame career as a Brooklyn Dodger, proved to be
an inspiration.  “I had met Sandy at a baseball event many years ago,” Blomberg
said.  “He knew that I was Jewish, and asked if there were anti-Semitic feelings
when I played baseball.

“I was on teams with guys from the KKK [Ku Klux Klan],” the Georgia native
remembered, “who’d burn crosses after the ballgame.  It [the prejudice] wasn’t
as strong as what Jackie Robinson went through.  But, I saw my share of it.”

Oftentimes, Blomberg –like Robinson before him- was forced to take the high
road.  And, because he did, the path to success widened.  Though many of his
eight major-league seasons were marred by a litany of injuries [four knee and two
shoulder surgeries, and an assortment of muscle ailments], he still posted 52 HRs,
224 RBI, a .293 batting average and a .473 slugging percentage in 461 games
as a designated hitter, first baseman and rightfielder.

Throughout his career, Blomberg had taken flack for his many ailments.  His saga
is similar to that of Roberto Clemente, the Pittsburgh Pirate great, who was often
labeled by the hometown media as a hypochondriac.  [Ironically, on the very same
day Blomberg batted against Tiant, the Pirate organization posthumously retired
Clemente’s famed No. 21.]  On more than one occasion, it was suggested that the
DH next to Blomberg’s name was an acronym for ‘Designated Hypochondriac.’

“When I was injured,” he recounted, “the feeling was that it was just a strained
muscle -even though I had a completely-torn rotator cuff.  It was, eventually,
taken care of by Dr. [Frank] Jobe [the orthopedic surgeon whose revolutionary
technique lengthened Tommy John’s pitching career by 14 years] in California.  
But, at the time, our team physician did not know how to heal the injury.

“Now, an athlete can continue playing.”

While injuries did impede his progress, they never fully stopped him.  Blomberg
could always swing the bat.  As a 19 year-old in 1967, he had a .297 average
playing for Johnson City of the Appalachian League.
 
Two years later, he was a September call-up after swatting 19 home runs for
Double-A Manchester.  Four weeks before his arrival, the Yankees had also
promoted a 22 year-old catcher, whose impact continues to be felt within the
organization more than three decades later.
 
Even with three knocks in his first six big league at-bats, Blomberg could only
warrant a ticket to Syracuse [AAA], where he would hit .273 and .326 over the
next season-and-a-half.  But, after rejoining the team in 1971, he’d room with
Thurman Munson -that catcher- on road trips.

During the spring of ’69, the American League had experimented with a DPH, or
designated pinch hitter.  In fact, the Yankees’ John Orsino –who had hit .272 with
19 HR for the Baltimore Orioles in 1963- was among the first in that capacity.  The
idea, however, would be dropped within three weeks.

The concept would be resurrected in 1973, when the AL looked to spice up the
game.  As a result, the 12 teams combined to hit 377 more home runs than the
previous year [leading to an additional 1,873 runs scored].  Two million additional
fans passed through the turnstiles -padding the financial bottom line- and making
the owners even giddier.

Initially, Blomberg was skeptical of the DH’s resurgence.  “When Bowie Kuhn and
the owners wanted to add offense, and fill up stadiums, I thought it would just be a
gimmick.  Now, look at the game.  From Little League to the college level, baseball
is played with a DH.”

There is good reason for this.  Blomberg noted that there was a time when, each
spring, Phil Rizzuto would teach the fine art of bunting to teammates Mickey Rivers
and Willie Randolph.  Today, it has become a lost art.  “Very few players even
know how to bunt,” he lamented.  “The game has changed.  Who wants to see a
pitcher hit?”

The 24 year-old lefthander –dubbed ‘Boomer’ by teammates- was only 500 at-
bats into his career when he entered Fenway Park on that blistery April afternoon.
 
“When we got off the plane at Logan Airport, the temperature was 35 degrees,”
Blomberg said, “as opposed to 85 degrees in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when the
team broke from camp.

“At that point, I would’ve called in an oh-for-four.”

He hadn’t been slotted as the DH at any point during the spring, but when a
pulled hamstring forced him to the bench, manager Ralph Houk needed to
revamp his line-up.  As Tiant was a righthanded pitcher, Houk looked to maximize
his lefthanded hitter’s powerful stroke.

After two quick outs, Matty Alou doubled.  Walks to Bobby Murcer and Graig
Nettles loaded the bases and Blomberg’s pass delivered Alou for a 1-zip lead;
Boomer would later flair a broken-bat single and finished the afternoon with one
hit in three official plate appearances.

“When the first inning was over,” he said, “Elston Howard, a coach, yelled from
the dugout, ‘Come on back to the bench.  You aren't supposed to stay out there.’

“So, I went back to the dugout and asked him, ‘What do I do next?’  He said, ‘You
just sit here with me!’”

Ultimately, Boston -benefited by a 20-hit attack- prevailed, 15-5, though Orlando
Cepeda, Blomberg’s counterpart on this day, did not figure in the outcome.  He
went 0-6, and was the only Red Sox starter to remain hitless.
 
Afterward, as the press swarmed the Yankees’ lockerroom, Appel gathered the
DH’s bat and jersey and earmarked them for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Though Blomberg enjoyed a stellar season [in 100 games, including 55 as a DH,
he hit .329, with 12 home runs and 57 ribbies], it was Cepeda -a week shy of his
35th birthday and near the end of a brilliant career- who was thought to be the
epitome of the designated hitter.  When he signed with the Sox on January 18, it
was specifically for this purpose.  Cepeda played 142 games, all as a DH, and hit .
289 with 20 HRs and 86 RBI and was the recipient of the Associated Press
Designated Hitter Award.

“It was very difficult for me,” he related.  “I wasn’t born to be a DH; today, there
are players who are groomed for this.  So, it was a big adjustment.  During the
’73 season, I spoke with Cepeda and asked him what he did between at-bats.  
And he said, ‘I just go into the clubhouse and stay warm.’  

“That’s not me; I like to move around.”

Blomberg feels that players, such as Edgar Martinez –and Paul Molitor [who
only played defense in 57% of his 2,669 games] before him- have solidified the
DH as a position because of both their longevity and success.  The role, he
implied, is not as easy as it may seem.

“To me, hitting is baseball.  See the ball; swing at it.  I do think Martinez [who
played 1st or 3rd base only 33 times over the final 1,403 games of his marvelous
career] is a Hall-of-Fame player,” Blomberg stated, “because he was a position
player.  

“For many years, relievers couldn’t get in, either.  Now, [Bruce] Sutter is in; [Rich]
Goosage should be there, too.  These guys did so much for the game.  The
rules have changed over the years, but the voters have not always gone with
the times.”

Yet, nearly everywhere he goes, Blomberg is remembered for one single solitary
piece of baseball history.  It is always April 6, 1973.  Clearly, he is comfortable
with his life, and well aware it would have been different had Cepeda hit before
him.  

To that point, some contrarians have suggested that, as the home team Red Sox
turned in the line-up card first, Cepeda should have been granted the honor;
others have even gone as far as to point out that Larry Hisle of the Minnesota
Twins should receive credit after the DH rule was approved in January 1973
-simply because he batted in that role during a meaningless spring training game.

None of that has mattered.  Thirty-odd years later, Blomberg is still taking his
cuts.  He remains an original, in more ways than one.  And, to be sure, Designated
Hebrew isn’t just a poke at his Jewish heritage.  The book is a lasting reminder
that, in another place and time, he was the chosen one.