as a decoy, waiting on deck to pinch hit. He returned to the lineup for Game 2, but because of his injury Staub had to throw underhanded and weakly for the remainder of the World Series. Despite the injury, he batted .423 against the Oakland Athletics including a home run and six runs batted in. For the 1973 postseason he batted .341 with 4 home runs and 11 runs batted in In 1974 he had an injury-free season and led the Mets in hits, runs batted in, and at bats. He played in 151 games, having 145 hits, 65 runs, 19 home runs, 78 RBIs with a .258 batting average, a .347 OBP, and a .754 OPS. He had 77 walks and 39 strikeouts. In 147 games in the right field (with 138 complete games), he had 1,292.1 innings while having 262 putouts, 19 assists, with five errors and double plays each for a .983 fielding percentage. In 1975, he set a Mets record with 105 runs batted in—the first Met player to surpass 100 RBIs—which was not matched until 1986, when it was tied by Gary Carter, and not surpassed until 1990 when Darryl Strawberry recorded 108. Detroit Tigers He was traded with Bill Laxton to the Detroit Tigers for Mickey Lolich and Billy Baldwin on December 12, 1975. The transaction was delayed by Lolich who had exercised his right to veto which he earned as a major leaguer for at least ten years with the last five on the same ballclub, a benefit for which Staub had been a year away from qualifying. In his three plus seasons with the Tigers, Staub hit .277 with 70 home runs and 358 runs batted in. He was voted to start the 1976 All-Star Game, where he went 2-for-2. In 1978, Staub became the first player to play in all 162 regular-season games exclusively as a designated hitter. Not playing the field at all proved beneficial, as Staub finished second in the Major Leagues with 121 RBI and finished fifth in American League Most Valuable Player voting. He was selected to the Sporting News American League All-Star team at the end of the season as the designated hitter. Staub held out to start the 1979 season. In the 1979 season, he played for the Tigers in 68 games, getting 246 at-bats with 58 hits, 9 home runs and 40 RBIs on