ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Wade Boggs never set boundaries for himself as a player, and he has no intentions of doing it for others as hitting coach for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

"I think goals are limitations. I don't want to set limitations on guys trying to achieve. The sky's the limit," the five-time AL batting champion and member of the 3,000-hit club said Tuesday after he joined the coaching staff of manager Larry Rothschild.

"If I ever did that with my career, I don't think I would have ever reached 3,000. When you set goals and you reach those goals in mid-August and early September, there's nothing to look forward to. You sort of lose your drive. I don't want these guys to lose their drive for 162 games."

Boggs, who retired from the team in 1999 after 18 big-league seasons, was hired along with Hal McRae and Terry Collins Boggs becomes the Devil Rays' third hitting coach in four years.

McRae and Collins, both former major league managers, will serve as bench and bullpen coach.

Rothschild, who also hired Darren Daulton to work as a catching instructor, said it was not necessarily his intent to fill the positions with such high-profile candidates.

"The decision was who was going to best fit in on this staff and help us the most -- high-profile, less profile or whatever," the manager said. "I think the most important thing is the content of the person and what they bring to us. In each case, like I said, we're pretty fortunate."

Boggs played two seasons for Tampa Bay after spending most of his career with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, and has been a special assistant to general manager Chuck LaMar for the past year.

A 12-time AL All-Star with a .328 lifetime batting average, Boggs is 22nd on the career hits list with 3,010. He became the only player to get No. 3,000 on a home run when he connected off Cleveland's Chris Haney at Tropicana Field on Aug. 7, 1999.

McRae, the Kansas City Royals manager from 1991-94, was the Philadelphia Phillies hitting coach the last four seasons. Collins, who has managed both the Houston Astros and Anaheim Angels, was an advance scout for the Chicago Cubs during the 2000 season.

Daulton, a three-time NL All-Star catcher, played virtually his entire 14-year major league career with the Philadelphia Phillies. In his final season, 1997, he was traded by the Phillies to the Florida Marlins on July 21 and helped the Marlins to the World Series title.

He has been in private business since his playing career ended.

Rothschild was retained as manager in October after three consecutive last-place finishes in the AL East. But the club fired hitting coach Leon Roberts, bench coach Bill Russell and bullpen coach Orlando Gomez to create the openings filled Tuesday.

The hirings complete the staff for 2001. Returning from last season are first-base coach Jose Cardenal, pitching coach Bill Fischer and third-base coach Billy Hatcher.