George Brett Finds Himself Back at the Top of the List : Baseball: The Royals veteran has regained the stroke that won two batting titles--and could make him a three-decade AL champ this year.

Two months ago, George Brett hardly could be thinking of a third American League batting title.

When the Kansas City first baseman searched through the AL hitters’ statistics for the week, he began at the bottom of the list to find his name.

Media and fans were convinced he had become just another aging has-been trying to hold on in his twilight years. Even Brett had self-doubts, particularly when he was demoted from third to fifth in the batting order in early May by manager and old friend John Wathan.

“It was the first time in my life a manager called me into his office to say, ‘Hey, you’re not really doing the job. We’re going to move you back to fifth to take a little pressure off,’ ” Brett said. “I kind of walked out of there going ‘Wow.’ ”

Then one day, the mechanics started to come together. Brett says it happened on a couple of foul balls in Boston in mid-July.

The Royals’ Willie Wilson, himself an AL batting title winner and Brett’s teammate for 13 years, says Brett finally got mad at himself, went into the dugout tunnel one day, rattled things around and came out recharged.

Royals hitting coach John Mayberry says Brett’s swing was there all along--he just got off to a slow start.

Whatever the theory, the 37-year-old Brett has been sizzling since early July.

He was hitting .266 at Detroit on July 8 when he went on a 16-game streak that raised his average to .307 by July 26 at Toronto.

Now when he checks the batting leaders, he starts at the top. Only Rickey Henderson of Oakland (.326) is ahead of Brett’s .320 average.

“The one thing I cannot do is try to go out and win the batting title,” Brett said. “If I get my hits, I can’t worry about what (others) do.”

Rafael Palmeiro of Texas trails Brett at .319, followed by Alan Trammell of Detroit at .315.

“When I went from .260 to .315, I was hitting .450, .480,” Brett said. “I need another one of those to get in serious, serious contention, I think.”

He last won the batting title in 1980, when he hit .390, the highest average in the big leagues since 1941, when Ted Williams hit .406.

Brett won his first title in 1976 (.333), when he collected three hits on the final day of the season against Minnesota. It was a showdown with teammate Hal McRae and the Twins’ Rod Carew.

Wathan, who said he didn’t view Brett’s move to the No. 5 spot in the order as a demotion, is as happy as anyone to see Brett’s turnaround.

“He had some doubts about himself, but it clicked somewhere along the line. He wants to prove he hasn’t lost it,” Wathan said. “The only thing I see happening, and I don’t think it will, is he could lose patience.”

Should Brett win the race, he would become the first player to win three batting titles in three different decades.

“To win one when you’re 23 years old and turn around and win one when you’re 37, it would be a great feat to do,” he said.

“The longer I’m in this thing, the more I’m going to want to win it.”