George Brett
George Brett was one of the greatest modern hitters, and he maintained a high batting average over the course of a very long career, which made him one of the standards by which batters are judged.
Brett first played for the Kansas City Royals in late 1973, but he struggled at the plate at first. At the All-Star break, he asked his batting coach for help, and he ended up reaching .282 by season's end, the lowest average he would post in the next 17 years.
The next season, he led the league in both hits and triples, and by 1976, he had won his first batting title, hitting .333 and leading the league with 298 total bases, and ended up #2 in the MVP voting, quite the turnaround from his struggles just 2 years earlier.
That was the first of 3 consecutive seasons in which the Royals reached the ALCS, but lost to the New York Yankees. Brett played well in all 3 of those series, batting at least .300 in each, and even hitting 3 home runs in a 4-game series in 1978, but they just couldn't overcome the powerhouse.
Brett led the league in hits and triples for the third time in 1979, but the 1980 season was truly magical. He led the league in batting, with a .390 average, which was the highest by any player since 1941, when Ted Williams hit .406. Brett was above .400 on September 19, but slumped over the last couple weeks of the season and ended up falling short of the huge milestone, but he was still given a very well-deserved MVP award.
That postseason, they also overcame the Yankees for the first time, sweeping them in 3 games and moving on to face the Phillies in the World Series. They would lose in 6 games, but Brett hit .375 for the series, once again showing up big when his team struggled.
Over the next several seasons he was solid, hovering around a .300 average, then he spiked again in 1985, reaching .335 and coming in as the MVP runner-up. That year, for the first time, Brett played well in a postseason series that his team won, being named ALCS MVP for batting .348 with 3 home runs, then batting .370 in the World Series, including 4 hits in the decisive game 7 as the Royals knocked off the Cardinals.
Brett would play another 8 years for the Royals, but would not see the playoffs again. He did, however, have a few more important personal milestones. In 1990, he led the league in batting for the third time, with an average of .329 at age 37, becoming the first player in history to win batting titles in 3 different decades. In 1992, he reached 3000 hits, joining another elite club.
Brett is one of 4 players ever to have 3000 hits, 300 home runs, and a .300 average for his career, the others being Stan Musial, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. He is also #6 all-time in doubles and #16 in hits, #1 among third basemen in each category. He was a great hitter over nearly two decades, a strong playoff performer, and has earned this spot among the 50 greatest baseball players of all time.
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