By Jason Beck
SportsLine Staff Writer

No small feat

Brewers pitcher Jim Abbott reached a milestone Tuesday with his first major-league hit, as he lined a Jon Lieber delivery over Cubs shortstop Jose Hernandez into left field.

Jim Abbott notched his first hit and RBI Tuesday. (AP)

Abbott's hit is significant because he was born without a right hand. However, he has a long way to go to match the hit totals of Pete Gray, baseball's last one-handed batter to record a hit more than 50 years ago.

Gray lost his right arm in a truck accident as a kid, but he didn't lose his love of baseball. Despite being naturally right-handed, he learned to hit and throw as a southpaw, and eventually rose from the semi-pro leagues in Pennsylvania's coal towns all the way to the majors.

Just as Abbott received national recognition in college when he made the 1988 U.S. Olympic team, so did Gray decades earlier when he hit up a storm as an outfielder in the minor-league Southern Association. Gray hit .333 for Memphis in 1944, homered five times and tied a league record with 68 stolen bases to earn the league's Most Valuable Player award.

With many major-league stars overseas during World War II, the St. Louis Browns gladly signed Gray for a shot in 1945. Gray managed a .218 average in 77 games during his only year with the Browns, sharing an outfield platoon with 37-year-old Mike Kreevich. Like Gray, Kreevich was playing his final major-league season as the league's stars began returning from the war.

The game of Gray's life came at Yankee Stadium, when he posted four hits to go with a pair of runs and RBI during a May doubleheader.

While Gray struggled at the plate, his speedy running and fielding kept him in the majors. He perfected a fielding motion with which he could remove his glove from his left hand, roll the ball out of the glove and across his chest, and throw the ball in one motion.

Gray headed back to the minors the next year, where he played out his career. But his proverbial 15 minutes of fame at least set a precedent for Abbott to match.

Sitting down is hard to do

Albert Belle's outburst to manager Ray Miller in public view earned the slugger a seat on the bench Friday. That brought his major league-leading streak to an end at 392 straight games.

Colorado's Vinny Castilla took over the longest active streak, but his reign as baseball's ironman lasted four days before Rockies manager Jim Leyland gave him a day off Tuesday in favor of Terry Shumpert. Castilla's streak ended at 307.

B.J. Surhoff, Belle's and Ripken's teammate, has taken over the longest active mark at 226 games through Wednesday. Kansas City's Johnny Damon sits closely back at 224.

More multi-hit games

Another streak that ended Tuesday came from Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, who tallied seven straight multi-hit games before he struck out three times to go with a three-run homer in a 6-2 win over the Rangers.

Jeter, who led the majors entering Wednesday with 92 hits, would've been the first Yankee to post eight straight multiple-hit games since Mike Easler in 1986. However, he would've still had a long way to go for the major-league mark. Thanks to Gary Fox, a reader who found out that Rogers Hornsby holds the unofficial record with 13 straight multi-hit games from July 5-18, 1923.

Even more numbers

2 -- Home runs Ken Griffey Jr. has hit against left-handed pitching this year in 69 at-bats through Tuesday. He has homered 21 times in 169 at-bats versus righties in that span.

3 -- Consecutive games (through Tuesday) in which Tony Womack recorded the game-winning RBI, one short of the National League record held by Johnny Ray, Milt Thompson and Ozzie Smith.

4 -- Batters that Angels starter Omar Olivares hit Sunday against Arizona, tying a major-league record. Fellow Anaheim pitcher Steve Sparks also tied the record May 22 against Tampa Bay.

14 -- Half-innings in which the Giants and Mariners scored during Saturday's 15-11 slugfest, tying the record for a nine-inning game. Thanks again to Gary Fox.

63 -- Projected home-run pace for major-league leader Jose Canseco, providing that he avoids his annual trip to the disabled list.