This story originally ran July 25, 2022, and has been edited for content.
After the advent of the designated hitter rule in 1973, American League clubs had to develop a plan as to who their DH would be. Some teams had an in-house option, such as Gates Brown with the Tigers or Tony Oliva with the Twins. Other teams went with aging hitters such as Tommy McCraw with the Angels, Orlando Cepeda with the Red Sox, and Rico Carty with the Rangers. The Royals initially opted for the in-house solution and shuffled their DH duties between Ed Kirkpatrick, Kurt Bevacqua, Carl Taylor, Gail Hopkins, Steve Hovley and Hal McRae to name a few.