George Howard Brett (born May 15, 1953) is an American former professional baseball third baseman, designated hitter, and first baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals.
Brett's 3,154 career hits are second most by any third baseman in major league history (after only Adrian Beltré's 3,166) and rank 18th all-time. He is one of five players in MLB history to accumulate 3,000 hits, 300 home runs, and a career .300 batting average (the others being Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Miguel Cabrera, and Stan Musial). He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999 in his first year of eligibility, and is the only player in MLB history to win a batting title in three different decades. He was also a member of the Royals' 1985 World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Brett was named the Royals' interim hitting coach in 2013 on May 30, but he stepped down from the position on July 25 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 five games over the New York Mets.
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Early life
Brett was born in Glen 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 the 1967 World Series at age 19. Brothers John (eldest) and Bobby had brief careers in the minor leagues. All of George's brothers were born in Brooklyn.
Jack and Ethel Brett then moved the family from the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia to the Midwest, and three years later to El Segundo, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, just south of Los Angeles International Airport. George grew up hoping to follow in the footsteps of his older brothers. He graduated from El Segundo High School in 1971 and was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the second round (29th overall) of the 1971 Major League Baseball draft. He was high school teammates with pitcher Scott McGregor.
Playing career
Minor leagues
Brett began his professional baseball career as a shortstop, 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 the Billings Mustangs for the Rookie-level Pioneer League in 1971, the San Jose Bees of the Class A California League in 1972, and the Omaha Royals of the Class AAA American Association in 1973, batting .291, .274, and .284, respectively.
Kansas City Royals (1973–1993)
The Royals promoted Brett to the major leagues on August 2, 1973. He made his major league debut that day against the Chicago White Sox, going 1-for-4 as the starting third baseman. He played in 13 games, and hit .125 (5-for-40).
Brett won the starting third base job in 1974 (replacing Paul Schaal), but struggled at the plate until he asked for help from Charley Lau, the Royals' batting coach. Spending the All-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.
Brett topped the .300 mark for the first time in 1975, 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). He then won his first batting title in 1976 with a .333 average, seven home runs and 67 RBI in 159 games. The four contenders for the batting title that year were Brett and Royals teammate Hal McRae, and Minnesota Twins teammates Rod Carew and Lyman 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 fielder Steve Brye, bounced on the Royals Stadium AstroTurf 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.
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 of Sports Illustrated for a feature article, and made his first of 13 All-Star teams. The Royals won the first of three straight American League West Division titles, beginning a great rivalry with the New York Yankees—whom they faced in the American League Championship Series each of those three years. In the fifth and final game of the 1976 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. Brett finished second in American League MVP voting to Thurman Munson.
Hall of Fame
Brett was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999, with what was then the fourth-highest voting percentage in baseball history (98.2%), trailing only Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, and Ty Cobb. His voting percentage was higher than all-time greats Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, and Joe 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 the Hometown Hero for the Royals in a two-month fan vote revealed in an hour-long telecast on ESPN on September 27, 2006. He was one of the few players to receive more than 400,000 votes.
Legacy
Brett's 3,154 career hits are the second most by a third baseman in major league history, surpassed only by Adrián Beltré (3,166 hits), and 18th among all players. Baseball historian Bill James regards him as the second-best third baseman of all time, trailing only his contemporary, Mike Schmidt. In 1999, he ranked Number 55 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major 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 only Tris Speaker, Pete Rose, Stan Musial, Ty Cobb, Albert Pujols and Craig Biggio).
Such pitchers as Dennis Eckersley and Ron Guidry have described Brett as the single toughest hitter they ever faced in their careers.
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.
A photo in the July 1976 edition of National Geographic showing Brett signing baseballs for fans with his team's name emblazoned across his shirt was the inspiration for New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde's 2013 song "Royals," which won the 2014 Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Brett was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. Brett was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
The Mendoza Line
Brett is credited with popularizing the phrase the Mendoza Line, which is used to represent a sub-.200 batting average, historically regarded as unacceptable at the Major League level. It derives from shortstop Mario 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, Tom Paciorek and Bruce Bochte, in 1979.
Brett referred to the Mendoza Line in an interview, which was picked up by ESPN baseball anchor Chris Berman and then expanded into the world of SportsCenter.
Post-baseball activities
Following his playing career Brett became a vice president of the Royals, and has worked as a part-time coach, as a special instructor in spring 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, Ken. He has also lent his name to a restaurant on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri.
In 1998, Brett worked as a color analyst on regional Fox Saturday Baseball telecasts.
Brett has continued to raise money for amyotrophic 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 a PETA ad campaign, encouraging people not to leave their canine companions in the car during hot weather. He also threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Mike Napoli at the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
On May 30, 2013, the Royals announced that Brett and Pedro Grifol would serve as batting coaches for the organization. On July 25, 2013 (the day following the 30th anniversary of the pine tar incident), the Royals announced that Brett would serve as vice president of baseball operations.
In 2015, Brett was the National Baseball Hall of Fame recipient of the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award for his support of current and former service members of the United States Military.
Brett appeared as himself in the ABC sitcom Modern Family on March 28, 2018, alongside main cast member Eric Stonestreet, a Kansas City native and Royals fan, whose character on the show is also an avid fan.
Brett appeared as himself in the Brockmire 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, "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."
Team ownership
In 1998, 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 the Tri-City Dust Devils, the Single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. He and his brother Bobby also co-own the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, a Los Angeles Dodgers Single-A partner, and lead ownership groups that control the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League, and the West Coast League's Bellingham Bells.
Personal life
In 1992, Brett married the former Leslie Davenport, and they reside in the Kansas City suburb of Mission Hills, Kansas. The couple has three sons: Jackson, Dylan, and Robin.