| George Brett | |
|---|---|
 Brett in 2017 | |
| Third baseman /Designated hitter /First baseman | |
| Born: (1953-05-15)May 15, 1953 (age 72) Glen Dale, West Virginia, U.S. | |
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| August 2, 1973, for the Kansas City Royals | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 3, 1993, for the Kansas City Royals | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .305 |
| Hits | 3,154 |
| Home runs | 317 |
| Runs batted in | 1,596 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 1999 |
| Vote | 98.2% (first ballot) |
George Howard Brett (born May 15, 1953) is an American former professional baseballthird baseman,designated hitter, andfirst baseman who played 21 seasons inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for theKansas City Royals.
Brett's 3,154 careerhits are second most by any third baseman in major league history (after onlyAdrian Beltré's 3,166) and rank 18th all-time. He is one of five players in MLB history to accumulate 3,000 hits, 300home runs, and a career .300batting average (the others beingHank Aaron,Willie Mays,Miguel Cabrera, andStan Musial). He was inducted into theBaseball Hall of Fame in1999 in his first year of eligibility, and is the only player in MLB history to win abatting title in three different decades. He was also a member of the Royals'1985 World Series victory over theSt. Louis Cardinals.
Brett was named the Royals' interim hitting coach in2013 on May 30, but he stepped down from the position on July 25 in order to resume his position of vice president of baseball operations. In 2015, he won his second World Series ring when the Royals won the series in 5 games over theNew York Mets.
Brett was born inGlen Dale, West Virginia, the youngest of four sons of a sports-minded family.Ken, the second oldest, became a major league pitcher who pitched in the1967 World Series at age 19. Brothers John (eldest) and Bobby had brief careers in the minor leagues. All of George’s brothers were born inBrooklyn.
Jack and Ethel Brett then moved the family from thenorthern panhandle of West Virginia to the Midwest,[where?] and three years later toEl Segundo, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, just south ofLos Angeles International Airport. George grew up hoping to follow in the footsteps of his older brothers. He graduated fromEl Segundo High School in 1971 and was selected by theKansas City Royals in the second round (29th overall) of the1971 Major League Baseball draft.[1] He was high school teammates with pitcherScott McGregor.[2]
Brett began his professional baseball career as ashortstop, but had trouble going to his right defensively and was soon shifted to third base. As a third baseman, his powerful arm remained an asset, and he remained at that spot for more than 15 years. Brett's minor league stops were with theBillings Mustangs for theRookie-levelPioneer League in 1971, theSan Jose Bees of theClass ACalifornia League in 1972, and theOmaha Royals of theClass AAAAmerican Association in 1973, batting .291, .274, and .284, respectively.[3]
The Royals promoted Brett to the major leagues on August 2,1973. He made his major league debut that day against theChicago White Sox, going 1-for-4 as the starting third baseman.[4] He played in 13 games, and hit .125 (5-for-40).[5]
Brett won the starting third base job in1974 (replacingPaul Schaal), but struggled at the plate until he asked for help fromCharley Lau, the Royals' batting coach. Spending theAll-Star break working together, Lau taught Brett how to protect the entire plate and cover up some holes in his swing that experienced big-league pitchers were exploiting. Armed with this knowledge, Brett developed rapidly as a hitter, and finished the year with a .282 batting average, two home runs and 47 RBI in 113 games.[5]
Brett topped the .300 mark for the first time in1975, hitting .308 with 11 home runs and 90 RBI in 159 games. He finished the season leading the league in hits (195) and triples (13).[5][6] He then won his first batting title in1976 with a .333 average, seven home runs and 67 RBI in 159 games.[5] The four contenders for the batting title that year were Brett and Royals teammateHal McRae, andMinnesota Twins teammatesRod Carew andLyman Bostock. In dramatic fashion, Brett went 2-for-4 in the final game of the season against the Twins, beating out his three rivals, all playing in the same game. His lead over second-place McRae was less than .001. Brett won the title when a fly ball dropped in front of Twins left fielderSteve Brye, bounced on theRoyals StadiumAstroTurf and over Brye's head to the wall; Brett circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run. McRae, batting just behind Brett in the line up, grounded out and Brett won his first batting title.[7]
From May 8 through May 13, 1976, Brett had three or more hits in six consecutive games, a major league record. A month later, he was on the cover ofSports Illustrated for a feature article,[6] and made his first of 13 All-Star teams. The Royals won the first of three straightAmerican League West Division titles, beginning a great rivalry with theNew York Yankees—whom they faced in theAmerican League Championship Series each of those three years. In the fifth and final game of the1976 ALCS, Brett hit a three-run homer in the top of the eighth inning to tie the score at six—only to see the Yankees'Chris Chambliss launch a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth to give the Yankees a 7–6 win.[8] Brett finished second inAmerican League MVP voting toThurman Munson.[9]
A year later, Brett emerged as a power hitter, batting .312 while clubbing 22 home runs and recording 88 RBI in 139 games, as the Royals headed to anotherALCS.[5] In Game 5 of the 1977 ALCS, following an RBI triple, Brett slid into third and was called safe then was kicked in the head byGraig Nettles, after which Brett stood and threw a punch at Nettles, igniting a bench-clearing brawl.[10][11]
In1978, Brett batted .294 (the only time between 1976 and1983 in which he did not bat at least .300) with nine home runs and 62 RBI in 128 games, helping the Royals win a third consecutive AL West title.[5] However, Kansas City once again lost to the Yankees in theALCS, but not before Brett hit three home runs offCatfish Hunter in Game 3,[12] becoming the second player to hit three home runs in an LCS game (Bob Robertson was the first, having done so in Game 2 of the1971 NLCS).[13]
Brett followed with a successful1979 season, in which he finished third in AL MVP voting.[5] He became the sixth player in league history to have at least 20doubles,triples and homers all in one season (42–20–23) and led the league in hits (212) and triples (20) while batting .329, with anon-base percentage of .376 and aslugging percentage of .563.[5]
All these impressive statistics were just a prelude to1980, when Brett won the American LeagueMVP and batted .390, a modern record for athird baseman.[5] Brett's batting average was at or above .400 as late in the season as September 19, and the country closely followed his quest to bat .400 for an entire season, a feat which has not been accomplished sinceTed Williams in1941.[14]
Brett's 1980 batting average of .390 is second only toTony Gwynn's1994 average of .394 (Gwynn played in 110 games and had 419 at-bats in the strike-shortened season, compared to Brett's 449 at bats in 1980) for the highest single season batting average since 1941. Brett also recorded 118runs batted in, while appearing in just 117 games; it was the first instance of a player averaging one RBI per game (in more than 100 games) sinceWalt Dropothirty seasons prior. He led the American League in both slugging and on-base percentage.[5]
Brett started out slowly, hitting only .259 in April. In May, he hit .329 to get his season average to .301. In June, the 27-year-old third baseman hit .472 (17-for-36) to raise his season average to .337, but played his last game for a month on June 10, not returning to the lineup until after the All-Star Break on July 10 due to him tearing a ligament in his foot while trying to steal second.[14]
In July, after being off for a month, he played in 21 games and hit .494 (42-for-85), raising his season average to .390.[14] Brett started a 30-gamehitting streak on July 18, which lasted until he went 0-for-3 on August 19 (the following night he went 3-for-3).[14] During those 30 games, Brett hit .467 (57-for-122). His high mark for the season came a week later, when Brett's batting average was at .407 on August 26, after he went 5-for-5 on a Tuesday night inMilwaukee.[14] He batted .430 for the month of August (30 games), and his season average was at .403 with five weeks to go. For the three hot months of June, July, and August 1980, Brett played in 60American League games and hit .459 (111-for-242), most of it after a return from a monthlong injury. For these 60 games, he had 14 home runs and 69 RBI.
Brett missed another 10 days in early September and hit just .290 for the month. His average was at .400 as late as September 19, but he then had a 4-for-27 slump, and the average dipped to .384 on September 27, with a week to play.[14] For the final week, Brett went 10-for-19, which included going 2-for-4 in the final regular season game on October 4. His season average ended up at .390 (175 hits in 449 at-bats = .389755), and he averaged more than one RBI per game.[5] Brett led the league in bothon-base percentage (.454) andslugging percentage (.664) on his way to capturing 17 of 28 possible first-place votes in the MVP race.[15] SinceAl Simmons also batted .390 in 1931 for thePhiladelphia Athletics, the only higher averages subsequent to 1931 were byTed Williams of theRed Sox (.406 in 1941) andTony Gwynn of theSan Diego Padres (.394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season).
More importantly, the Royals won the American League West, and would face the AL East championNew York Yankees in theALCS.
During the 1980 post-season, Brett led the Royals to their first American League pennant, sweeping theplayoffs in three games from the rivalYankees who had beaten K.C. in the1976,1977 and1978 playoffs. During Game 2 of the1980 ALCS,Willie Randolph was on first base in the top of the eighth with two outs and the Royals up by just one run.Bob Watson hit a ball to the left field corner ofRoyals Stadium. The ball bounced right toWillie Wilson, but Wilson was not known for having a great arm, and third base coachMike Ferraro waved Randolph home. Wilson overthrewU L Washington, thecut-off man, but Brett was in position behind him to catch the ball, then throw toDarrell Porter, who tagged out Randolph in a slide. TV cameras captured a furiousGeorge Steinbrenner fuming immediately after the play. The Royals won 3–2. Brett claimed after the game that he had deliberately positioned himself to cut off the throw in case Washington missed it, butTommy John of the Yankees disagreed, thinking that if Brett had been backing up Washington, he would have been between shortstop and home plate, not over behind third base. Either way, he was in the perfect position to throw out Randolph.[16] In Game 3, Brett hit a ball well into the third deck ofYankee Stadium off Yankees closerGoose Gossage.[17] Gossage's previous pitch had been timed at 97 mph, leading ABC broadcaster Jim Palmer to say, "I doubt if he threw that ball 97 miles an hour." A moment later Palmer was given the actual reading of 98. "Well, I said it wasn't 97", Palmer replied. Brett then hit .375 in the1980 World Series, but the Royals lost in six games to thePhiladelphia Phillies.[5] During the Series, Brett made headlines after leaving Game 2 in the sixth inning due tohemorrhoid pain. Brett had minor surgery the next day, and in Game 3 returned to hit a home run as the Royals won in 10 innings 4–3. After the game, Brett was famously quoted "...my problems are all behind me".[18] In 1981, he missed two weeks of spring training to have his hemorrhoids removed.[19]
On May 14, 1981, Brett hitUPI photographerTom Gralish in the head with acrutch while Gralish was photographing him after a loss at Royals Stadium. Brett apologized the following day.[20] Roughly two weeks later, in a fit of anger, he destroyed two toilets and a sink atMetropolitan Stadium as reported by sportswriter Mike Fish. On September 15 at a hotel inAnaheim, Brett confronted Fish about his reporting. Brett pushed reporter Janis Carr and had to be restrained by teammatesWillie Wilson andGreg Keatley. Police were called but no arrests were made.[21]
On July 24, 1983, in a game against theYankees atYankee Stadium, Brett hit a two-run homer offGoose Gossage in the top of the ninth inning with two out to put the Royals up 5–4. After the home run, Yankees managerBilly Martin cited to the umpires arule stating that any foreign substance on a bat could extend no further than 18 inches from the knob. The umpires measured the amount ofpine tar, a legal substance used by hitters to improve their grip, on Brett's bat. The pine tar extended about 24 inches, leading home plate umpireTim McClelland to signal Brett out and end the game as a Yankees win. An enraged Brett charged out of the dugout directly toward McClelland, forcing the two umpires and Royals managerDick Howser to physically restrain him.[22]
The Royals quickly issued a challenge to the outcome. It was upheld by American League presidentLee MacPhail, who ruled that while the bat should have been excluded from future use, the home run should not have been nullified.[23] Amid much controversy, the game was resumed on August 18, 1983, from the point of Brett's home run and ended with a Royals win.[24]
.jpg)
In1985, Brett had another brilliant season in which he helped propel the Royals to their second American League Championship. He batted .335 with 30 home runs and 112 RBI in 155 games,[5] finishing in the top 10 of the league in 10 different offensive categories. Defensively, he won his onlyGold Glove, which brokeBuddy Bell's six-year run of the award, and finished second inAmerican League MVP voting toDon Mattingly. In the final week of the regular season, he went 9-for-20 at the plate with seven runs, five homers, and 9 RBI in six crucial games, five of them victories, as the Royals closed the gap and won the division title at the end.[25] He was MVP of the1985 playoffs against theToronto Blue Jays, with an incredible Game 3. With KC down in the series two games to none, Brett went 4-for-4, homering in his first two at bats againstDoyle Alexander, and doubled to the same spot in right field in his third at bat, leading the Royals' comeback.[26] Brett then batted .370 in theWorld Series against theSt. Louis Cardinals,[5] including a four-hit performance in Game 7.[27] The Royals again rallied from a 3–1 deficit to become World Series champions for the first time in their history.[28]
In1988, Brett moved across the diamond tofirst base in an effort to reduce his chances of injury and had another top-notch season with a .306 average, 24 home runs and 103 RBI in 157 games.[5] But after batting just .282 with 12 homers and 80 RBI in 124 games the next year, it looked like his career might be slowing down.[5] He got off to a terrible start in1990 and at one point even considered retirement. But his manager, former teammateJohn Wathan, encouraged him to stick it out. Finally, in July, the slump ended and Brett batted .386 for the rest of the season. In September, he caughtRickey Henderson for the league lead, and in a battle down to the last day of the season, captured his third batting title with a .329 mark.[5] This feat made Brett the only major league player to win batting titles in three different decades.
Brett played three more seasons for the Royals, mostly as theirdesignated hitter, but occasionally filling in for injured teammates at first base. He passed the 3,000-hit mark in1992, though he was picked off byAngels first basemanGary Gaetti after stepping off the base to start enjoying the moment.[29] Brett retired after the1993 season; in his final at-bat, he hit a single up the middle againstRangers closerTom Henke and scored on a home run by now teammate Gaetti.[30] His last game was also notable as being the final game ever played atArlington Stadium.
Brett was elected to the Hall of Fame in1999, with what was then the fourth-highest voting percentage in baseball history (98.2%), trailing onlyTom Seaver,Nolan Ryan, andTy Cobb. His voting percentage was higher than all-time greatsBabe Ruth,Hank Aaron,Willie Mays,Stan Musial,Ted Williams, andJoe DiMaggio. In 2007,Cal Ripken Jr. passed Brett with 98.5% of the vote.
Brett's No. 5 was retired by the Royals on May 14, 1994, only the second in Royals history, after former Royals manager,Dick Howser’s No. 10 in 1987.
Brett was selected theHometown Hero for the Royals in a two-month fan vote revealed in an hour-long telecast onESPN on September 27, 2006. He was one of the few players to receive more than 400,000 votes.[31]
Brett's 3,154 career hits are the second most by a third baseman in major league history, surpassed only byAdrián Beltré (3,166 hits), and 18th among all players.[32] Baseball historianBill James regards him as the second-best third baseman of all time, trailing only his contemporary,Mike Schmidt. In 1999, he ranked Number 55 onThe Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players,[33] and was nominated as a finalist for theMajor League Baseball All-Century Team. Brett is one of only five players in MLB history—the other four being Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Miguel Cabrera, and Hank Aaron—to accumulate 3,000 hits, 300 home runs, and a career .300 batting average. Most indicative of his hitting style, Brett is seventh on the career doubles list with 665, trailing onlyTris Speaker,Pete Rose,Stan Musial,Ty Cobb,Albert Pujols andCraig Biggio).[34]
Brett was a highly effective hitter in the postseason. In 43 postseason games, including 2 World Series (1980, 1985), he batted .337 (56-for-166) with 10 home runs and 23 RBI.[35]
A photo in the July 1976 edition ofNational Geographic showing Brett signing baseballs for fans with his team's name emblazoned across his shirt was the inspiration for New Zealand singer-songwriterLorde's 2013 song "Royals," which won the 2014Grammy Award for Song of the Year.[36] Brett was inducted into theMissouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. Brett was inducted into theKansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.[37]
Brett is credited with popularizing the phrase theMendoza Line,[38] which is used to represent a sub-.200 batting average, historically regarded as unacceptable at the Major League level. It derives from shortstopMario Mendoza, a career .215 hitter who finished below .200 five times in his nine seasons in the big leagues—including .198 the year the term is claimed to have been coined by a pair of his teammates inTom Paciorek andBruce Bochte in 1979.[citation needed]
Brett referred to the Mendoza Line in an interview, which was picked up byESPN baseball anchorChris Berman and then expanded into the world ofSportsCenter.[39]
Following his playing career Brett became a vice president of the Royals, and has worked as a part-time coach, as a special instructor inspring training, as an interim batting coach, and as a roving instructor helping minor league prospects develop. He also runs a baseball equipment and glove company named Brett Bros. with brothers Bobby, and, until his death in 2003,[40] Ken.[41] He has also lent his name to a restaurant on theCountry Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri.
In 1998, Brett worked as acolor analyst on regionalFox Saturday Baseball telecasts.[42]
Brett has continued to raise money foramyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Brett started to raise money for the Keith Worthington Chapter during his playing career in the mid-1980s.
Brett and his dog Charlie appeared in aPETA ad campaign, encouraging people not to leave their canine companions in the car during hot weather.[43] He also threw out the ceremonial first pitch toMike Napoli at the2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.[44]
On May 30, 2013, the Royals announced that Brett andPedro Grifol would serve as batting coaches for the organization.[45] On July 25, 2013 (the day following the 30th anniversary of thepine tar incident), the Royals announced that Brett would serve as vice president of baseball operations.[46]
In 2015, Brett was theNational Baseball Hall of Fame recipient of theBob Feller Act of Valor Award for his support of current and former service members of the United States Military.[47]
Brett appeared as himself in the ABC sitcomModern Family on March 28, 2018, alongside main cast memberEric Stonestreet, a Kansas City native and Royals fan,[48] whose character on the show is also an avid fan.
Brett appeared as himself in theBrockmire episode "Player to Be Named Later", in which he is dating Jules (Amanda Peet), much to Brockmire's despair; in the episode "Low and Away", Jules informs Brockmire that she and her now-husband Brett are getting a divorce. Series creator Joel Church-Cooper said in a statement, "When I created a show about a fake Kansas City legend, Jim Brockmire, I thought it only appropriate to have him worship the biggest Kansas City legend of them all—George Brett."[49]
He was a recurring guest on the podcastPardon My Take which is presented byBarstool Sports and hosted byDan "Big Cat" Katz andPFT Commenter.
In1998, an investor group headed by Brett and his older brother, Bobby, made an unsuccessful bid to purchase the Kansas City Royals. Brett is the principal owner of theTri-City Dust Devils, the Single-A affiliate of theLos Angeles Angels.[50] He and his brother Bobby also co-own theRancho Cucamonga Quakes, aLos Angeles Dodgers Single-A partner, and lead ownership groups that control theSpokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League,[51] and theWest Coast League'sBellingham Bells.[52]
In 1992, Brett married the former Leslie Davenport, and they reside in the Kansas City suburb ofMission Hills, Kansas. The couple has three sons: Jackson, Dylan, and Robin.[53]
, orBaseball-Almanac.com| Preceded by | Hitting for the cycle May 28, 1979 July 25, 1990 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
