1.   Piazza began running slowly to first base, still holding the bat handle.

2.   Tall and as slender as a bat handle, the Georgian throws an old-fashioned overhand curveball, spinning and dropping straight down.

3.   The Mariners shortstop fouled back a Detroit pitch that sent a vibration through the bat handle to his hands that delivered fleeting thoughts of relief through amputation.

4.   Piazza stopped with the bat handle in his hand, looked at Clemens and took a couple of steps in his direction.

5.   Canseco trotted down the first-base line with his bat handle in his hand as the hard grounder rolled into left field, scoring Luis Alicea.

6.   Eagerly tapping the bat handle before every pitch, Ripken laced one line drive after another to the opposite field.

7.   Hussain, trying to pull out of an ill-advised shot, fended a catch to first slip off the bat handle.