THIS DAY IN HISTORY JAN. 11

 On January 11, 1973 baseball's American League adopted the "designated hitter" rule which allowed another player to bat for the pitcher.This and the free agent rule changed the game of baseball tremendously in the seventies. (In 1975 Andy Messersmith of the Dodgers and Dave McNally of the Montreal Expos played without contracts, and then declared themselves free agents in response to an arbitrator's ruling, thereby paving the way for our current system of free-agency and arbitration).