On This Date in Sports August 1980: George Brett Flirts with .400
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
George Brett of the Kanas City Royals flirts with .400 as he goes 4-for-4 in an 8-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Royals Stadium. Brett would get his average as high as .407 on August 26th and was still hitting .400 as late as September 19th. George Brett would finish the season with an average of .390 the highest average since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.
George Brett was born on May 15, 1953, in Glen Dale, West Virginia, and raised in El Segundo, California. The youngest of four boys, Brett followed in the footsteps of his three older brothers who all played professional baseball. Only Ken Brett reached the majors, as John Brett and Bobby Brett both had brief minor league careers. George Brett was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the second round of the 1971 draft and reached the majors two years later.
After struggling when he was first called up, George Brett under the tutelage of Charley Lau developed into one of the top hitters in the game, as he finished third in Rookie of the Year balloting in 1974. In 1976, George Brett made the first of 13 consecutive All-Star appearances and won his first batting title, with a .333 average. Brett would win the batting title three times, becoming the first batting champion in three different decades as he led the league in hitting in 1980 and 1990. As George Brett became a star, the Royals became a perennial contender, winning the Western Division three straight years but losing to the New York Yankees in the ALCS in 1976, 1977, and 1978.
In 1980, with Jim Frey taking over as manager, the Royals were running away with another division title after falling shorth in 1979. Most players who flirt with .400 do so in the early weeks in the season when a good day can lift your average by 20 points. In 1980, George Brett got off to a slow start. On April 22nd Brett was batting .209 as ended April with a pedestrian average of .259. As the Royals began to take command in the American League West, Brett found his stroke as he nudged above .300 for the first time since the third game of the season as May came to an end. As June began, Brett’s average continued to rise. George Brett was hitting .337 on June 10th when he suffered an ankle injury that would sideline him for a month.
When George Brett returned after the All-Star Break, the Royals had a nine and a half-game lead and were well on their way to a fourth division title in five years. Brett’s average continued to climb upon his return. On July 18th, George Brett turned his pursuit for .400 into overdrive as he embarked on a 30 game hitting streak. During the month of July, Brett had an average of .494. On August 17th, George Brett climbed over .400 with four hits against the Blue Jays.
After his average climbed over .400, the eyes of baseball fell upon George Brett for the remainder of the 1980 season. A day after the streak ended, George Brett continued to hit over .400, reaching .407 on August 26th. After entering September with an average of .403, Brett went into a min-lump dropping to .396 on September 6th. George Brett would miss the next ten games due to a severe hemorrhoid attack. When Brett returned, he made one last run at history, reaching .400 on September 19th. George Brett would finish the year with an average of .390, with 24 home runs and 118 RBI in 117 games to earn the American League MVP. Brett would lead the Royals to their first World Series appearance in 1980, slaying the New York Yankees in the ALCS for the first time. The Royals would fall short in the Fall Classic as they were beaten by the Philadelphia Phillies in six games.
George Brett’s .390 average was the best since Ted Williams hit .406 with the Boston Red Sox in 1941. In 1994, Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres was poised to make a run at .400 in 1994, as he held an average of .394 when the strike ended the season on August 12th.