Kansas City Royals Franchise Four Retrospective

Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

George Brett

Quite frankly, we all had to know that George Brett would be on this list. After all, he is the only member of the Kansas City Royals in the Hall of Fame who, at the very least, spent most of his career in Kansas City. More than that, Brett was a Royals lifer, heading into the front office after his time on the field ended. He has served in a variety of capacities, including coming down and filling in as he interim hitting coach during 2013. He is Kansas City baseball.

Brett’s accomplishments on the field put him in rarefied air. Producing an excellent .305/.369/.487 career batting line, Brett also had 3154 hits, 317 home runs and 1595 RBI. He won a batting title in three different decades, becoming the only player in Major League history to do so. He won an MVP award in 1980, made the All-Star Team 13 times and was a three time Silver Slugger.

That excellent career was capped off with his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999, when he received 98.2% of the vote, tied for the fourth most in history. Brett was an icon, a true superstar known as much for his fiery play as his skill on the diamond. After all, who can forget his reaction during the Pine Tar Game when he was ruled out, or when he punched Graig Nettles during the 1977 American League Championship Series?

George Brett was easily the greatest player in the history of the Kansas City Royals. It would be unthinkable to leave him off the Royals Mount Rushmore.

Next: Retire his number already!