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) 1973 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).
1974 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. He then won his first batting title in
1976 with a .333 average, seven home runs and 67 RBI in 159 games. 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, Brett finished second in
American League MVP voting to
Thurman Munson. 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 another
ALCS. In , Brett batted .294 (the only time between 1976 and 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. 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 the
1971 NLCS). Brett followed with a successful
1979 season, in which he finished third in AL MVP voting. 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 since
Ted Williams in . Brett's 1980 batting average of .390 is second only to
Tony Gwynn's 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 118
runs 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) since
Walt Dropo thirty seasons prior. He led the American League in both slugging and on-base percentage. Since
Al Simmons also batted .390 in 1931 for the
Philadelphia Athletics, the only higher averages subsequent to 1931 were by
Ted Williams of the
Red Sox (.406 in 1941) and
Tony Gwynn of the
San Diego Padres (.394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season). More importantly, the Royals won the American League West, and would face the AL East champion
New York Yankees in the
ALCS.
1980 postseason During the 1980 post-season, Brett led the Royals to their first American League pennant, sweeping the
playoffs in three games from the rival
Yankees who had beaten K.C. in the
1976,
1977 and
1978 playoffs. During Game 2 of the
1980 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 of
Royals Stadium. The ball bounced right to
Willie Wilson, but Wilson was not known for having a great arm, and third base coach
Mike Ferraro waved Randolph home. Wilson overthrew
U L Washington, the
cut-off man, but Brett was in position behind him to catch the ball, then throw to
Darrell Porter, who tagged out Randolph in a slide. TV cameras captured a furious
George 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, but
Tommy 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. In Game 3, Brett hit a ball well into the third deck of
Yankee Stadium off Yankees closer
Goose Gossage. 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 the
1980 World Series, but the Royals lost in six games to the
Philadelphia Phillies. In 1981, he missed two weeks of spring training to have his hemorrhoids removed.
1981 On May 14, 1981, Brett hit
UPI photographer
Tom Gralish in the head with a
crutch while Gralish was photographing him after a loss at Royals Stadium. Brett apologized the following day. Roughly two weeks later, in a fit of anger, he destroyed two toilets and a sink at
Metropolitan Stadium as reported by sportswriter Mike Fish. On September 15 at a hotel in
Anaheim, Brett confronted Fish about his reporting. Brett pushed reporter Janis Carr and had to be restrained by teammates
Willie Wilson and
Greg Keatley. Police were called but no arrests were made.
Pine Tar Incident used by George Brett in the Pine Tar Incident on July 24, 1983 On July 24, 1983, in a game against the
Yankees at
Yankee Stadium, Brett hit a two-run homer off
Goose Gossage in the top of the ninth inning with two out to put the Royals up 5–4. After the home run, Yankees manager
Billy Martin cited to the umpires a
rule stating that any foreign substance on a bat could extend no further than 18 inches from the knob. The umpires measured the amount of
pine 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 umpire
Tim 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 manager
Dick Howser to physically restrain him. The Royals quickly issued a challenge to the outcome. It was upheld by American League president
Lee MacPhail, who ruled that while the bat should have been excluded from future use, the home run should not have been nullified. 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.
1985 in 1985 In
1985, 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, He was MVP of the
1985 playoffs against the
Toronto 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 against
Doyle Alexander, and doubled to the same spot in right field in his third at bat, leading the Royals' comeback. Brett then batted .370 in the
World Series against the
St. Louis Cardinals, The Royals again rallied from a 3–1 deficit to become World Series champions for the first time in their history.
1986–1993 In
1988, Brett moved across the diamond to
first 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. Brett retired after the
1993 season; in his final at-bat, he hit a single up the middle against
Rangers closer
Tom Henke and scored on a home run by now teammate Gaetti. His last game was also notable as being the final game ever played at
Arlington Stadium. ==Hall of Fame==