KC Royals Rewind: The final games of George Brett

The KC Royals were lucky to have George Brett for 21 seasons. What were the final few games of his career like?

George Brett’s timing, an essential element of his superb ability to hit a baseball, was, as usual, at best perfect and at worst very good when, on Sept. 25, 1993, he announced his retirement from the KC Royals.

You could see it coming, this bittersweet end to Brett’s marvelous 21-season career, one spent entirely with his Royals. No player was more responsible than Brett for the baseball renaissance the franchise worked in the city Charlie Finley abandoned because he believed it couldn’t support the game.

Yes, you really could tell it was time. Brett, a career .305 hitter who thrilled baseball with his pursuit of .400 in 1980, hit over .300 11 times and won batting titles in three different decades, had, in 1993, exceeded .300 only twice since his .335 paced the club to its first World Series title in 1985. He hadn’t hit 20 home runs since ’88. He no longer played third base, having moved primarily to first in 1987 to ease the strain of the hot corner, then to DH in ’91. And he was 40.

But realizing it was time for him to close out his career doesn’t mean Brett waited too long. He didn’t. He could still hit, still produce. Although he’d hit only .255, the lowest full-season average of his career, two seasons before, he’d sandwiched that conspicuously un-Brett-like campaign between a league-leading .325 in 1990 and .285 in ’92.

But you knew Brett wouldn’t hold on too long or allow himself to deteriorate into a dispiriting shell of himself. Retirement would come on his terms, timed his way.

So it was that on Sept. 25, he announced at Kauffman Stadium that the time had come. He would step away from the game after the Oct. 3 season finale at Texas.

Here are his last few games.

On the day George Brett announced his retirement, he and his KC Royals lost to California. Brett made sure they wouldn’t lose the next night.

In a way, it wasn’t surprising the KC Royals lost the day George Brett told the baseball world he was done. Brett didn’t play the night before, but he was back in the lineup the night of the announcement.

The Royals lost to California 6-2 in front of almost 25,000 fans; presumably, most of them got their last glimpse of Brett that evening. For those who didn’t leave early to beat the traffic—the Royals trailed 6-1 going into the bottom of the ninth—Brett didn’t disappoint. He accounted for half of KC’s runs with a two-out RBI single before Mike Macfarlane struck out to end the game.

Brett finished the night 1-for-5 with his average at a respectable .270 with seven games to go. The loss left the club, already eliminated from the playoffs a few games before, 10 games behind Chicago in the AL West; the headlines the rest of the way would belong to Brett.

So would the next game.

Brett, even at 40, wasn’t so old that he needed to take the following game, an early afternoon affair following a night contest, off. The designated hitter, he hit third; Gary Gaetti was at third base, Brett’s position for so many years until a move to first and then DH became the cost of years playing the hot corner on artificial grass. John Farrell, who later managed the Blue Jays and Red Sox and whose son Luke pitched briefly for the Royals, started on the mound for the Angels.

Brett quickly pleased the fans by doubling home Felix Jose in the bottom of the first to give KC a 1-0 lead. Then, with the Royals down 3-2 with one out in the fourth, Brett belted a 1-0 pitch from Farrell for a three-run homer; the blast gave Kansas City a 5-3 lead and knocked Farrell out of the game.

But California roughed up Chris Haney, John Habyan and Stan Belinda for five combined runs over the next two innings and the Royals entered the bottom of the ninth three runs down. Batting second in the inning meant Brett couldn’t win or even tie the game, but he reached base when Steve Frey plunked him with a 1-0 pitch. Brett then scored on a bases-loaded walk to Greg Gagne and Mike Macfarlane’s two-run single sent the game to extra innings.

Late September Sunday afternoons and baseball are not a perfect match, especially for teams and fans with no postseason to look forward to—the weekend is winding down, vacation is in the past, kids have school the next day and players, weary from a long season without reward, are ready for a winter off. But for the fans who paid to see his last Sunday home game, Brett made the day worth it.

The Angels didn’t score in their half of the 10th, giving the Royals the chance to end it in theirs. California reliever Paul Swingle got Brian McRae on an 0-2 swinging strike and Keith Miller on a 1-2 fly. He then threw a first-pitch ball to Brett, the last pitch of the day to find catcher Greg Myers‘ mitt. Brett, the master of Royal heroics, launched Swingle’s next offering out of the park to walk the Angels off 9-8.

It seemed only fitting that the homer was the last of Brett’s career, a stunning cap to the weekend he announced his retirement.

He had six games left.

The KC Royals played six games after George Brett’s last home run beat California. Home fans said their last goodbye before the club embarked on Brett’s final road trip.

George Brett’s 10th-inning walk-off homer against the Angels was still the talk of the town when the Royals faced Cleveland the next evening to begin their final homestand of the season. With his club behind 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Brett had another shot at heroics.

It had been a tough night for him—he was 0-for-4 when, with a chance to tie or win the game, he stepped in against Jerry Dipoto with runners at first and second. But DiPoto got Brett out on a fly to center. Fortunately, Mike Macfarlane singled next to tie the game and Dipoto hit Gary Gaetti with the bases loaded to give the KC Royals their second straight walk-off.

Brett was almost as quiet the next night, his next-to-last home game, going 1-for-4 as the club lost to Cleveland 3-2. But manager Hal McRae gave the 19,000-plus fans and his old teammate their moment—after Brett singled off Jason Grimsley in the eighth, McRae sent Phil Hiatt in to pinch run and Brett left the field to a standing ovation.

The final home contest for the favorite Royal came the next night, a somewhat chilly Wednesday evening that was anything but the typical midweek night game—36,999 fans (this writer among them) packed Kauffman to see Brett one last time. The 3-2 KC win was nice, but it was the eighth inning and postgame fans remember most.

With the Royals down 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth, Brent Mayne followed Craig Wilson‘s leadoff groundout with a double and scored when Kevin Koslofski‘s single and an error allowed Koslofski to take second. Brian McRae struck out, leaving Brett with one last opportunity to thrill the Kansas City fans.

Brett, of course, came through, drilling a first-pitch, game-tying single to center. Bob Hamelin walked; Brett trotted to second, then came off the field to a thundering ovation when, just as he had the night before, McRae sent in Hiatt to run for him.

Kansas City won it the next inning when Koslofski singled home Felix Jose for the club’s 82nd victory and a winning season.

And then, George Brett took a final Kauffman Stadium curtain call. Against a backdrop of fireworks, the theme from The Natural, and a packed house, he circled the field on a golf cart, knelt to kiss home plate, waved his last goodbye, and disappeared into the dugout.

The KC Royals were off the next day but headed to Texas for the last three games of the season and the last Brett would ever play. The teams split the first two games; Brett went 0-for-4 in each.

It was time.