Classic Swinger : As His 3,000th Hit Nears, Brett’s Career Nearly Over

The words sound strange coming from George Brett. Talk of retirement seems unnatural from a man who once dreaded the thought of growing up too soon.

Brett debuted with the Kansas City Royals in 1973 as a blond-haired California beach boy, attacking the game like a surfer trying to ride an ocean wave. His zest for playing baseball seemed to pour from a fountain of youth and when his face became nationally recognized, a big-name soap company included Brett in its advertisement campaign. Brett was a natural, better than any kid, because he always had dirt on his uniform.

Always taking the extra base. Always breaking up double plays. Always delivering the clutch hit. Hustle, heart, and desire defined Brett’s game. But most of all, there was a boyish enthusiasm that grew wild and could not be contained.

After 19 years, all in a Kansas City uniform, the golden locks no longer dangle from his royal blue cap. The soft lines of his face have been replaced by hard edges. But the classic left-handed swing has produced 157 hits this season and his career total has reached Hall of Fame proportions. Brett was hitting .278 before the game Friday night against the Twins in Minnesota.

Brett, finishing his career as a designated hitter after playing third and first base, needs seven hits to become the 18th player in major league history to reach 3,000 in his career. Thirteen days ago Brett sent a telegram to Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Robin Yount, congratulating him on accomplishing the same feat against the Indians. If Brett has his way, Yount will be returning the favor after Kansas City’s final series of the season, Oct. 2-4 at home against the Minnesota Twins.

“I have no idea how I’m going to react,” Brett said. “I know it’s a big milestone that only 17 people have done. One thing I don’t want to do is put pressure on myself to do it. I just want to relax and go out and do it.”

The glory of the accomplishment also carries the realization that Brett’s career soon will be over. Brett, who ranks eighth all-time in doubles with 631 and has 298 home runs, said earlier this year he will not retire before reaching 3,000. If he falls short in the final two weeks of the season Brett will, at the very least, return to pursue the milestone in 1993.

But if Brett reaches his goal this season, he will face a decision about his future.

Brett is making $3.1 million in the final year of a five-year contract that was extended through this season, with an option for 1993. He isn’t sure if he wants to come back--or if the Royals want to pay him for another season. There is speculation in Kansas City that the Royals wouldn’t hesitate to spend $1 million to buy out his option, if he reaches 3,000 this season. Sitting in the Yankee Stadium clubhouse where he celebrated his finest moment--a three-run playoff home run off Rich Gossage in 1980 that gave the Royals their first American League pennant--Brett spoke candidly about leaving the game. He said he will not finish his career in another uniform.

“I don’t want to take any bows anywhere,” Brett said. “I don’t want to overstay my welcome. There’s an old saying someone told me once: ‘You’ll never be welcome to stay over if you overstay your welcome.’ Obviously, I’m not happy with the year I had last year. I’m not happy with the year I’ve had this year and it’s just hard for me to live with. Sure, I might miss the game a little bit. But I might be happier.”

Brett, a .308 lifetime hitter, batted .255 last season. He contemplated retiring earlier this season after an 8-for-51 (.157) start. But a strong second half and several multihit games have revitalized him a bit. On Sept. 12, Brett went 4 for 5 and had two doubles against the Yankees. It was the 53rd four-hit game of his career and, in his final at-bat, he hit a line drive that just missed being a grand slam.

“For about two months, he’s had it working,” said Hal McRae, Brett’s former teammate who now is manager of the Royals. “He’s been getting his hits each day and been very consistent. He drove the ball better (against the Yankees) than he has in a while. (Earlier this season) I think he felt he wasn’t carrying his load. He was disappointed. I don’t think he really wanted to quit, but he thought about it.”

Brett, a 13-time All-Star, no longer is the California kid or Kansas City’s most eligible bachelor. He married earlier this year and his wife, Leslie, is expecting a baby in March. Brett will turn 40 May 15 and that’s a milestone that ends careers with greater regularity than 3,000 hits.

Five knee injuries during his career and shoulder surgery in 1986 delayed Brett’s approach to 3,000. But when he leaves the game, Brett will take with him three batting titles (1976, 1980 and 1990), a Most Valuable Player Award (1980) and the highest single-season batting average (.390 in 1980) since Ted Williams of the Red Sox hit .406 in 1941. His career numbers in six American League Championship Series (.340 average, nine home runs, 19 RBI) and two World Series (.373 average) are among the best ever.

Brett’s batting helmet, a relic darkened by built-up pine tar and dirt, has few shiny spots remaining. Now Brett is searching for any sparkle beyond 3,000 hits. He wants to retire on his own terms. When the season ends, he will discuss his options with family, friends and former players such as his brother, Ken, and Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench. Only then will he try to answer the questions he considers most important to the decision.

In Brett’s words, those questions are, “Is the game still fun? Do (the Royals) want me back? Do I think I can perform at a level and be happy with it? . . . If I think I can help them.”

If I think I can help them.

No one--other than Brett, of course--would question that.

But that is the attitude that shaped Brett’s career. Satisfaction never came easily and he always pushed himself to be better. If Brett got a hit in his first at-bat, there was no reason for him to be pleased with a 1-for-4 game. He saw that as three wasted opportunities.

Brett’s father, Jack, instilled that work ethic in an unusual way. Jack Brett once said he “ran the house like a German army sergeant.” George spent most of his boyhood days trying to please his father--and found little success. George never seemed to measure up to his older brothers, John, Bobby and Ken.

Ken, a pitcher, enjoyed minimal success in 14 years in the majors, bouncing around with 10 teams including the Royals, Yankees and Red Sox. But George said he always felt inadequate in his father’s eyes.

“He never gave me any credit,” Brett said. “He never said I’d be as good as my three older brothers in anything I did. And that keeps you driving. That keeps your incentive up to someday be as good as your brothers. That keeps your incentive up to someday have him put his arm around you and say, ‘Good going.”’

Before open-heart surgery in 1987, Jack Brett finally found a way to express his feelings for George.

“There’s only one thing I want to do before I die,” Jack said then, “and that’s go to Cooperstown. I want to go back to see you inducted into the Hall of Fame.”

Brett was hitting .197 in early May when he learned Jack Brett was dying from brain cancer. Jack Brett had kept the news from his son as long as he could, hoping not to add to his struggle on the field. The Royals were in Texas when Jack Brett passed away May 24, but George had left the team and was there at his father’s side.

“I always wanted to make him proud of me, but after someone dies you kind of realize what you don’t have,” George said. “I took him for granted a lot the last few years because he was always around. He’s more of an inspiration to me now than he was when he was living. I don’t get second-guessed; I don’t get yelled at when I do bad.

“I was intimidated by the man because he was my father. And I tried to please him every chance I got. I didn’t understand him some times but I never hated the man. There were four boys, all about 2 1/2 years apart, so we were always played upon one another. Now I look at all my brothers and myself and we’re all very successful. Maybe that’s why.”

Pete Rose, the all-time hit leader (4,256) who is banned from baseball, is the only player to reach 3,000 hits, other than Yount, who hasn’t gone on to the Hall of Fame. Jack Brett won’t be in Cooperstown when his son arrives. Neither will Dick Howser, the manager who led the Royals to their 1985 World Series championship, or Charley Lau, who taught Brett the art of hitting. Cancer took both of them away from Brett too.

Brett may not know how he will react after hit No. 3,000, but he does know those three men will be in his thoughts.

“It doesn’t make it more difficult, but I’m sure I’ll think about them the moment it happens,” Brett said. During the carefree days of his baseball boyhood in Kansas City, Brett once said, “I’d hate to live to be 60 years old, then die and not have had a good time.”

Brett had plenty of good times, the kind few players ever enjoy. Recapturing those good times is the hard part now. If he reaches 3,000 this season, Brett will have to decide if it is worth one more try.

There’s no one left to satisfy but himself.

“There’s got to come a time when you walk away from something you’ve been doing,” Brett said. “This might be the year to do it. It might not be the year. . . .”