Swinging For the Record Books

Here are some other designated-hitter-related odds and ends that have become a part of baseball lore.

•Hal McRae (below) holds the record for playing in the longest streak of games without wearing a glove (658), set when he was the Royals' DH from 1982 to '87. He holds almost every career DH record, plus single-season marks in RBIs (133), runs (91), hits (189), doubles (46) and total bases (332).

•The first player to DH in all 162 games of a season was Rusty Staub (above) of the Tigers in 1978.

•The DH record for homers in a season is 35, set by Dave Kingman of the Oakland A's in 1984 and '86.

•The DH record for stolen bases in a season is only 24, set by Paul Molitor of the Brewers in '92.

•The surname most often used by a DH is Johnson: Alex, Cliff, Deron, Howard, Lamar, Lance, Larry, Randy, Tim and Tony. That makes 10.

•Until Dave Parker came along, Hank Aaron held the Brewers' DH records for homers (12) and RBIs (55) in a season ('75). Parker hit 21 homers and drove in 89 runs in 1990.

•The first designated hitter in a World Series was either Dan Driessen of the Reds or Lou Piniella of the Yankees, depending on how you look at it. Driessen actually came to bat first in the opening game of the '76 World Series, but the runner on first base was picked off before a pitch was thrown to him.

PHOTO

MICKEY PFLEGER