Do Wah Diddy Diddy: The George Brett Thread

friends (or more) with Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh worked for the Royals in the '70s; I'd be happier not knowing they're friends, but there's at least a foundation there that goes beyond cartoon Limbaugh (i.e., I assume Limbaugh wasn't Limbaugh when they met).

I'd add Carew to Earl's list. (And I guess Ichiro.)

i saw someone asked who they'd want, of everyone all-time, in a key situation that required a hit; he was the answer

I thought I might be able to construct a case that he was the exception to the rule, the one demonstrably provable clutch hitter, but, as usual, mixed evidence. The best argument is his post-season performance--he only had half as many PA as Ortiz because of his era, but he was even better overall, and more consistent. All post-season series:

Brett - .337/.397/.627
Ortiz - .289/.404/.543

Ortiz was up and down; Brett was good-to-awesome in seven of the nine series he played in. World Series:

Brett (2) - .373/.439/.529
Ortiz (3) - .455/.576/.795

Big advantage to Ortiz there.

When you start looking at Brett's career splits, he was best in high-leverage situations:

Low: .304/.368/.483
Med: .297/.359/.483
High: .321/.394/.508

Smaller sample, though--as with the post-season--so I don't how significant that is.

On the other side of the ledger, his "clutch stats" box shows little variance across the board from his overall totals. Monthly, he peaks in July/August; Sept. is a normal month.

My memories of him as a hitter are obviously disproportionately influenced by two things:

1) What he did to the Yankees in '76 and '78: 36 AB, 4 HR, 8 RBI, .417/.425/.846, highlighted by his massive 3-HR game in '78;
2) What he did to the Jays all through his career: .321/.402/.551. The first was his second-best mark against any one team; the other two his best. He killed the Jays year-in and year-out, back when I actually watched a lot of regular-season baseball.

No new news...but the entire pine-tar game is online, if you're interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvu_1JMY36k

(Best thumbnail ever.)

Wasn't sure where to put this, problem solved...Not sure if I knew this or not (if I did, I'd forgotten):

In 1980, the year Brett made a run at .400, he went 0-6 on May 21, dropping his average to .247. The rest of the way: .427/.484/.716.

This is pretty well known, I think, but the thread needs a workout (from some FB group):

George Brett is one of 5 players with 3,000 hits, 300 homers, and a .300 average — the others are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, & Miguel Cabrera.

Pujols looked like a cinch at one point; ditto, Trout, who still has a vanishing shot (1,648/378/.299 right now, 32--3,000 hits will be extremely difficult). Not sure if there's anyone else on the horizon out of Betts/Acuna/Soto.

Obviously, you'd take Pujols extra ~400 home runs for a few points of batting average.