Football Is Back, but You Won’t Recognize the Kickoff

A timeline of major changes in other sports

Major League Baseball

1973 — Designated hitter: The DH is adopted by the American League. The rule means a pitcher no longer has to hit. Instead, a (typically) superior hitter is inserted into the lineup while the hurler is in the game only to pitch.

Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees was the first DH in league history.

Baseball purists scoffed. According to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame slugger Carl Yastrzemski compared the DH back then to “legalized manslaughter.” Yaz said the “only thing preventing pitchers from throwing at hitters now is that they must come to bat themselves.”

The National League resisted the DH for years, except during some interleague play or postseason playoff series. That changed in 2022, when the National League also adopted the DH full-time.

2020 — Ghost runner: In another contentious decision traditionalists loathed, the league enacts a ghost runner rule during the pandemic that has since become permanent.

Beginning in the 10th inning of a tied game and at the start of each subsequent extra half inning, a runner is automatically placed on second base. This designated runner is to be the last player to have made an out in the previous inning. The premise: reduce the likelihood of extra-long extra inning games.

2023 — Pitch clock: To speed up the pace of play, MLB institutes a pitch clock that requires a pitcher to throw a pitch within 15 seconds when no runners are on base or 20 seconds (later reduced to 18 seconds) when there are base runners.

Pitch clock violations add a ball to the batter’s count.

But batters also must be ready to hit. If they’re not in the batter’s box within eight seconds, they’re charged with an automatic strike.

National Basketball Association

1954 — 24-second clock: Hall of Fame Syracuse Nationals owner Danny Biasone invents the 24-second shot clock, which requires teams to shoot at the basket — and at least hit the rim — within that time frame or else relinquish the ball to the other team. This prevents a team from stalling by hogging the ball.

For those wondering, the Nationals relocated to Philadelphia in 1963 and became the 76ers.

1979 — Three-point shot: An offshoot of a rule used in the old American Basketball Association — and tried by earlier defunct professional leagues — comes to the NBA a few seasons after the 1976 ABA-NBA merger.

Successful shots from “downtown” or “behind the arc” are awarded three points instead of the customary two points on closer-in field goals. The current three-point line in the NBA is 23 feet, 9 inches from the basket except in the corners, where it is 22 feet away.

Bits of trivia: Chris Ford of the Boston Celtics became the first NBA player to drain a three-pointer. Current Golden State Warriors sharpshooter Stephen Curry has made the most three-pointers in league history.

National Hockey League

1917 — Goalie flops: Hard as it is to fathom now, early last century goaltenders were penalized for falling to the ice to make a save. That changed in 1917-18, which was also the maiden season for what we now know as the NHL.

2005 — Shootouts after overtime: The NHL eliminates tie games in the regular season, which used to result in one point for each team in the standings rather than the two points issued to a winning team.

Instead, games are decided either by a five-minute sudden-death overtime period or, in the absence of an overtime goal, a three-round shootout, the equivalent of three penalty shots for each team, that's extended until a tie is broken.

There’s no shootout during the Stanley Cup playoffs. Winners are determined in sudden death overtime no matter how many overtime periods are required before someone finally shoots and scores.