First things first

By Compiled by MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 5, 2000

Esteban Yan's home run on the first pitch of his first major-league at-bat was memorable for many reasons:

* Yan is the 77th player, and 33rd American Leaguer, to homer in his first at-bat. The last was Montreal's Guillermo Mota on June 9, 1999.

* Yan is the 12th pitcher, fourth from the AL, to homer in his first at-bat. The last was Chicago Cub Jim Bullinger on June 8, 1992. The last in the AL was California's Don Rose, on May 24, 1972. Among the others is Rays teammate Dave Eiland, who did it on April 10, 1992, with San Diego.

* Yan is the 14th player, and fifth pitcher, to homer on his first pitch. The last was Colorado's Jay Gainer on May 14, 1993. The last AL player was Toronto's Junior Felix on May 4, 1989. The last pitchers, amazingly, were Bullinger and Rose.

* Yan is the fourth AL pitcher to homer during interleague play. Ex-Ray Dwight Gooden did it for Cleveland last year, Dave Burba for Cleveland in 1998 and ex-Ray Bobby Witt for Texas in 1997.

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