KC Royals: Anniversary of George Brett’s 3rd batting title

The first of his hitting titles came in the same year the KC Royals first made the playoffs.  There is little coincidence in this fact.

After being awarded an expansion franchise in 1969, the Royals quickly became competitive finishing second in their division in 1971, 1973 and 1975.  The following year, America’s bicentennial celebration also ushered in the dominance of the Kansas City franchise.

By this point, Brett was already showing flashes of greatness to come.  He was third in Rookie of the Year voting in 1974 and led the league in hits and the majors in triples in 1975.  He would explode the next year batting .333, collect more total bases (298) than any other American Leaguer and led the majors in hits (215) and triples again (14).  A runner-up finish to the Most Valuable Player, Thurmon Munson, capped the season off.

The team battled the New York Yankees, in what would become an epic rivalry, to a fifth and deciding game in the American League Championship Series.  The Royals fought back to tie the game with three runs in the top of the eighth thanks to a blast by Brett. The Yankees would walk off in the ninth, however, sending the Royals home.

As if all these statistics were not impressive, a picture taken by a National Geographic photographer of #5 during the season eventually led to the song “Royals” by Lorde.  Hard to choose between the terrific season and this nugget as your favorite 1976 Brett memory right?

While leading the majors in hits and triples in 1979 did not secure a batting title for Brett, it was good enough for a third-place MVP finish and set the stage for his historic chase the next year that also propelled the Royals to their first World Series appearance.

An ankle injury almost cost the KC Royals third baseman a shot at history.

In order to keep integrity in calculating percentage statistics like batting average and earned run average (ERA), baseball rules set a minimum number of plate appearances (PA) or innings pitched (IP) to determine the best in the league.  Officially rule 10.22(a) specifies a player in order to qualify, must register at least 3.1 times at the dish per game during each of a team’s regular seasons games. For a typical 162 game year, that equates to 502 plate appearances.

During the summer, Brett missed 35 games with an ankle injury.  He finished with 515 plate appearances, just barely surpassing the limit. What a magical ride it was though.  As late as May 21st he was only hitting .247.  He then went on a 35-for-73 tear (.479) that pushed him to .337 before the injury derailed him.

He picked up were in left off when he returned, batting a crazy .494 in July and .430 in August.  The pinnacle was August 27th where Brett’s average stood at .407 after a game in Milwaukee.  As the calendar turned September a “slump” began and his average would last see the .400 mark on September 19th.

When the regular season ended Brett led the majors in average (.390), OBP (.454), SLG (.664), OPS (1.118) and OPS+ (203).  Not surprisingly he captured his only MVP award and first Silver Slugger.

More importantly, the Royals finally beat the Yankees in the postseason to advance to the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.  They swept New York and who else would lead the way but Brett.

While the Phillies bested the Royals, Brett was still in top form hitting .375 with a home run and 3 runs batted in along with two doubles and a triple in the World Series.

The last batting title was one I followed as a teenager who had grown to love the Royals and, of course, #5 was my favorite player.  It was fun to see the aging veteran with bad legs still take us on one more exciting ride.

What made this title historic is that Brett would become the first, and still only, player to win a batting title in three different decades.

By this point in his career, Brett was regulated to first base and designated hitter primarily, having relinquished the hot corner to Kevin Seitzer.  Three of the previous four seasons Brett had not eclipsed the .300 mark and he would not do so again his final three.

Another crazy aspect of this story is that Brett was hitting .248 as late as May 25th but went on a tear the second half of the season producing a nearly .400 clip.  It was a pretty close race as he edged Rickey Henderson who would finish with a .325 average. On top of the best hitter in the American League, he also led the majors in doubles with 45.

It would be the last season that Brett led the league in any category and his finest year since that 1985 season that brought the World Series trophy to Kansas City. A seventh-place finish in the MVP race, the fifth time he was in the top 10 in this voting, capped the otherwise disappointment that was the Royals season.

The 1990 season probably saved his career average to stay above the .300 mark.  If he would have collected roughly 30 fewer hits and batted closer to how he did the last three years he may have finished at .298 or .299.  Not that takes away the Hall of Fame career, but that is a nice resume builder.

Brett would go on to eclipse 3,000 hits in 1992 and had a nice final year swatting 19 home runs and finishing his career in a game against another legend, Nolan Ryan.  Chances are he will stand alone in winning a batting title in three different decades and that is a fitting tribute to the longevity and greatness of King George.