George Brett Biography

George Brett (Born George Howard Brett)is a retired American baseball third baseman and designated hitter who played 21 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals. In 2013 on May 30, he was named the Royals’ interim hitting coach but stepped down from the position on July 25 in order to resume his position of vice president of baseball operations.

George Brett Age

George Howard Brett was born in Glen Dale, West Virginia on May 15, 1953. He is 66 years as of 2019.

George Brett Family

Born in Glen Dale, West Virginia, he was the youngest of four sons of a sports-minded family which included Ken, the second oldest, 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.

Jack and Ethel Brett then moved the family to the Midwest and three years later to El Segundo, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, just south of Los Angeles International Airport. In 1971 he graduated from El Segundo High School and was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the second round (29th overall) of the 1971 baseball draft. He was high school teammates with pitcher Scott McGregor. He lived in Mission Hills, Kansas when he moved to the Midwest.

George Brett Wife

Brett is a married man. In 1992, he married the former Leslie Davenport. The couple has three children: Jackson (named after George’s father), Dylan (named after Bob Dylan), and Robin (named after fellow Hall of Famer Robin Yount of the Milwaukee Brewers). They currently reside in the Kansas City suburb of Mission Hills, Kansas.

George Brett Career

Playing career

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. His. 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

The Royals promoted Brett to the major leagues on August 2, 1973, when he played in 13 games and was 5 for 40 (.125) at age 20.

Brett won the starting third base job in 1974 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 in 113 games.

In 1992, he passed the 3,000-hit mark, though he was picked off by Angel first baseman Gary Gaetti after stepping off the base to start enjoying the moment. 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

He was chosen for the Hall of Fame in 1999, with what was then the fourth-most noteworthy casting a ballot rate in baseball history (98.2%), trailing just Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, and Ty Cobb. In 2007, Cal Ripken Jr. passed Brett with 98.5% of the vote. His casting a ballot rate was higher than unsurpassed outfielders Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio.

Brett’s No. 5 was elected by the Royals on May 14, 1994. His number was the subsequent number resigned in Royals history, gone before by previous Royals administrator, Dick Howser (No. 10), in 1987. It was trailed by the second baseman and long-lasting partner Frank White’s No. 20 out of 1995.

He was voted a ballot the Hometown Hero for the Royals in a two-month fan vote. This was uncovered the evening of September 27, 2006, out of 60 minutes in length broadcast on ESPN. He was one of only a handful couple of players to get in excess of 400,000 votes.

Legacy

His 3,154 career hits are the most by any third baseman in major league history, and 16th all-time. Baseball history specialist Bill James views him as the second-best third baseman ever, trailing just his contemporary, Mike Schmidt. In 1999 he positioned Number 55 on The Sporting News’ rundown of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players and was designated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Additionally, he is one of four players in MLB history to collect 3,000 hits, 300 grand slams, and a vocation .300 batting normal (the others are Stan Musial, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron). Most demonstrative of his hitting style, Brett is 6th on the vocation pairs list, with 665 (trailing Tris Speaker, Pete Rose, Stan Musial, Ty Cobb, and Craig Biggio).

A photograph in the July 1976 version of National Geographic demonstrating Brett marking balls for fans with his group’s name decorated over his shirt was the motivation for New Zealand artist-musician Lorde’s 2013 melody “Royals,” which won the 2014 Grammy Award for Song of the Year. He was enlisted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. Brett was accepted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.

The Mendoza Line

George Brett is credited with coining the term The Mendoza Line. The Mendoza Line, which is used to represent the level of a sub-par batting average (below .200) that is deemed unacceptable at the major league level, is used in reference to Major League shortstop Mario Mendoza.

Mendoza was teased for having a mediocre batting average throughout his career in Major League Baseball. Brett referred to The Mendoza Line in an interview with ESPN’s Chris Berman which was then expanded into the world of SportsCenter.

Life After Baseball

Brett has continued to raise money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He started to raise money for the Keith Worthington Chapter during his playing career in the mid-1980s.

He 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 he 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, Baseball Operations.

Brett appeared as himself in the ABC sitcom Modern Family on March 28, 2018, alongside co-star Eric Stonestreet, a Kansas City native and Royals fan.

He appeared as himself in the IFC sitcom Brockmire on April 10, 2019, alongside star Hank Azaria. Series creator Joel Church-Cooper said in a statement, “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.”

He is also a recurring guest on the podcast Pardon My Take which is presented by Barstool Sports.

George Brett Net Worth

Brett is a retired American professional baseball player who has a net worth of $15 million dollars.

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