Royals’ Brett Is Getting Older--and Better

Many guys spend the day after their 40th birthday recovering. Either the preceding night was too wild or the depression too deep.

George Brett? He stepped to the plate in the first inning Sunday and hit a John Farrell pitch into the left-center field seats. He nearly chopped one of Julio Valera’s legs off in the eighth with a screaming bouncer up the middle.

Then, a pitch later, he was thrown out trying to steal.

He was undaunted.

“It takes a perfect throw to get me,” Brett cracked wryly.

Forty? Who’s afraid of 40?

“I don’t celebrate anymore,” said Brett, whose birthday was Saturday. “Years and years and years ago, I might not have played today.

“I was looking forward to 40, to be honest with you. Only a handful of people have played past 40. I think it’s a tremendous compliment to me.”

He once said that this would be his last season, but then backed away from retirement as quickly as it took the Angels to decide to intentionally walk him with runners on second and third in the third Sunday. The latest on the Brett retirement watch? He’ll get back to you.

First, he has a few more swings to take.

The home run--on a fastball away--got the Royals started on their way to a 4-2 victory over the slumping Angels at Anaheim Stadium. The eighth-inning shot up the middle? Brian McRae was forced at second on the play, and it went down as a fielder’s choice.

But it was another sign to Brett that his bat is finally cooperating with him in 1993.

“I’ve hit three rockets off the pitcher in the last three games and gotten no hits,” he said.

It wasn’t so much a complaint as a matter-of-fact, shrug-of-the-shoulders, been-there, done-that kind of a statement. After 19 years, Brett knows a few things. Among them, Aprils can be painfully slow.

He was hitting only .233 before Sunday’s game but has batted .286 in his last eight.

“I really thought I’d get off to a fast start,” Brett said. “I stayed in Kansas City all winter and took about 100 swings a day for two months.

“But I got off to my usual April. That was frustrating. I’m swinging the bat good now. I’m hitting the ball hard and swinging good.”

Despite the slow start and advancing age, Brett has played in 34 of Kansas City’s 35 games and his 132 at-bats are second on the team only to McRae’s 144.

“(Manager) Hal McRae has stuck with me,” Brett said. “He’s showing confidence in me, and that makes me feel good.”

Said McRae: “I’ve known him for a long time. You know what he’s capable of doing. So I sort of pencil him in every day in the three spot and I’m glad he’s making a contribution, swinging the bat better and enjoying coming to the park.”

Brett has made so many contributions to the Royals over the years that milestones now seem to appear with each hit. The homer on Sunday was his 301st, moving him into a tie with Rogers Hornsby for 63rd on the all-time major league list.

Already, Brett and Stan Musial are the only two in major league history to have at least 3,000 hits, 300 home runs, 600 doubles and 100 triples. He has 3,036 career hits, 15th on the all-time list, five behind Cap Anson. The list goes on.

What those closest to Brett kid him about most, though, is the 200-stolen base mark. He has 195, a number that is standing still after he was thrown out Sunday.

“They gave me the steal sign,” Brett said, laughing. “When they give it to me, I don’t wait around. I go on the first pitch because they might take it off.”

At his age, you leave nothing to chance. You never know how long the hit signs will continue, either.

“I’m taking it day by day, week by week, at-bat by at-bat,” Brett said. “When the season’s over, I’ll think about that . . .

“When September comes around, if I’ve had a good year, I might be back. If I’m hitting .230 or .240, I’ll say, ‘See ya.’ ”