BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Brett Back in Accustomed Spot: Looking Down on AL Batters

The Kansas City Royals, expected to challenge the Oakland Athletics in the American League West, were finished by May.

George Brett, the Royals’ 37-year-old first baseman, feared that he might be finished as well.

“I had serious doubts,” Brett said in Oakland the other day. “I didn’t know if what I was doing was just a slump or the best I had. It didn’t help that the media and fans were all over me, and I started believing what I was reading and hearing, rather than believing in myself.”

Three months later, Brett has erased the doubts, silenced the critics. He is vying for the American League batting title, the only race the Royals have a chance of winning.

“It’s amazing. It’s crazy,” Brett said. “I was so low I never even looked at the league leaders. A guy asked me a couple of weeks ago if I thought I could win the title and I thought he was joking. My numbers went up so fast that I didn’t even pay attention.”

Brett was batting .200 on May 7. He began a weekend series in Seattle having hit .347 since then--.389 with 41 runs batted in since the All-Star break--for an overall average of .317.

Only Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics is ahead of him at .327.

If Brett wins, he would be the first to do so in three decades, having previously won in 1976 and 1980.

“That would be an exciting thing,” Brett said. “But I can’t start thinking about the title. I learned a valuable lesson in 1980 when I got caught up in the idea of hitting .400.

“I can compare myself to the league leaders in the morning paper, but once the game starts I have to hope my fundamentals are there and just go about my job. I didn’t go from .260 to .315 thinking about the batting title.”

How did Brett do it?

Royal pitching coach Frank Funk provided one description, saying there are usually cheap hits when a guy gets hot. “But I haven’t seen George get a cheap one yet,” Funk said. “Everything he hits goes out there looking like a stream of milk.”

At the start, it was all sour.

“I’ve had slow starts, but by May I usually work my way out of it,” Brett said. “This went through April, May and June. I thought I might be released or traded for a player to be named later. It was the worst start of my career. I had a lot of negative thoughts.”

A .312 career hitter, Brett still isn’t sure why he started so poorly. He thinks, primarily, it was bad mechanics, but he also didn’t start the season in the best frame of mind.

The Royals signed free agents Mark Davis and Storm Davis last winter and re-signed Bob Boone, Bret Saberhagen and Mark Gubicza. In the process, Brett’s 1990 guarantee of $1.8 million quickly went from the Royals’ highest salary to middle-class status, embarrassing to the team’s senior player.

Brett, a former El Segundo High star who still spends winters in the Los Angeles area, said he thought he had the Royals’ promise to deal with his contract after the December holidays. But there was no word from the Royals, and Brett kept having to tell people--among them Jerry Buss and Bruce McNall, his hosts at Laker and King games--that there was nothing new regarding the situation. He finally erupted on a trip to Spokane, where he and his brothers were thinking of buying a minor league hockey team.

In strong words, he told a news service reporter that he was unappreciated by the Royals and said he might like to be traded. Brett realized later that he had erred and promptly flew to Kansas City to apologize to the owner, general manager and media. But he began the season still feeling like a “whipping boy,” his statements not forgotten by media and fans and nothing having been done about his contract.

“There was such great expectation for the team, but we got off to a bad start and everybody pressed and I pressed more than anyone, trying to get people off my back,” Brett said.

“It was something you wouldn’t expect from a player in his 17th season, but I wanted to win back the people who were bad-mouthing me, and I kept trying to get five hits in four at-bats, trying to do too much.”

There was no particular moment when it turned around, and there has been no resolution of Brett’s contract situation. He is signed through 1991, with the Royals holding options on ’92 and ’93.

“It’s a question of what’s right and what’s fair,” Brett said. “I have a contract, and the Royals feel they’re right in holding to the terms of it. I’m leaning toward what’s fair (and still hoping it will be renegotiated).”

In the meantime, Brett said, he reached a point where his performance couldn’t get much worse, where the realization that he had to relax and let his talent flow merged with improved fundamentals.

Through Friday, he had produced 38 doubles, 10 homers and 70 runs batted in. It’s more than a coincidence that the Royals, through Friday, had a 29-21 record since the All-Star break.

“I’ve regained all the confidence I lost,” Brett said. “I’ve proven to myself and the critics I can still play. It’s fun coming to the park again. It’s like discovering the Fountain of Youth. I mean, I was thinking I might be through in May. Now I may play three more years, maybe five more.”

He has renewed a resolute climb up the record ladder in several offensive categories. He will finish the 1990 season with about 2,700 hits, second to Robin Yount among active players.

Two productive seasons, Brett said, would take him to 3,000, one of three criteria for automatic admission to the Hall of Fame. As listed by Brett:

--300 victories for pitchers.

--3,000 hits for batters.

--No prison terms for either.

The continuing pain Jose Canseco is experiencing from the bulging disk in his lower back was as much a reason for the Oakland Athletics’ acquisition of Willie McGee and Harold Baines as the loss of Dave Henderson.

“No one knows how long my back will hold up before it snaps and they need another outfielder,” Canseco said, adding that the pain when he swings has robbed him of considerable bat speed.

A decision on surgery will be made after the season. Until then Canseco plans to grind it out. Rest?

“No sense in it,” Canseco said. “I’d need three or four weeks, and I can’t afford that.”

Canseco has only one homer in his last 22 games and only 10 hits in his last 61 times at bat, striking out 25 times in 62 at-bats. Despite missing 25 games, he is still second in the league in home runs with 35 and in RBIs with 88.

“I’ve struggled since Day 1 and missed a month on top of it, but most guys in perfect condition, in their prime, couldn’t put up the numbers I have,” Canseco said. “Even struggling I’m probably better than 80% of the players in the American League and have the numbers to back it up.”

The Rocket Man is in his own orbit. Destination: A third Cy Young Award and second most-valuable-player award. Roger Clemens, 20-5 with an eight-game winning streak during which his earned-run average is 0.80 for an overall ERA of 1.95, may pick up all the hardware as he pitches the Boston Red Sox to an American League East title.

Mike Marshall, who played with Orel Hershiser as a Dodger and Dwight Gooden as a New York Met, said neither compares with teammate Clemens.

“I’ve never seen a guy with so much talent who knows how to pitch,” Marshall said. “It’s scary. He goes through pitching sequences I’ve never seen.”

Added pitching coach Bill Fischer: “We’re talking about a guy who comes around every 25 years. How many are there? Whitey Ford in the late ‘50s and ‘60s. Nolan Ryan for three decades. Bob Feller in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Koufax, Drysdale. You can probably count them all on the fingers of your two hands.”

There will be no boasts, no early toasts by General Manager Bob Quinn of the Cincinnati Reds, whose father, John, was general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies when they blew a 6 1/2-game lead with 12 games to play in 1964.

“ ‘64 gives you palpitations,” Bob Quinn said. “To say the least, that’s why I can’t be premature.”