A look back at July 25, 1999 - George Brett Day at the K
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There have been a million words written about George Brett. Even though he was my all-time favorite Royal, there’s probably not much I can add to that conversation. If you want to read good Brett stories, I’m sure Joe Posnanski has some. If you wish to read a good biography, check out Russell Bergtold’s excellent piece on SABR.
Brett had an outsized influence on Royal fans and on the entire Midwest. I’m fairly certain there are scores of 35- to 45-year-old men, especially in Kansas and Missouri, whose parents named them Brett, thanks to #5. Maybe even some women.
Baseball’s unwritten rules are sometimes hazy, owing to the fact that they are not rules at all. But one of them says more or less that if a team is winning a blowout, and the losing team’s pitcher grooves a meatball right over the plate on a 3–0 count, the batter should not embarrass his opponent by hitting the ball to the moon. Instead, he should let it whiz past. Players usually observe this nonrule. Since 1988, which is as far back as Baseball Reference keeps count data for nearly every at-bat, players have only hit 34 homers on 3–0 counts in the seventh inning or later while leading by four or more runs. The list of hitters who have done it is mostly a who’s who of great hitters, because great hitters aren’t programmed to pass up opportunities for easy dingers. Jeff Bagwell, Fred McGriff, Troy Glaus, Mike Sweeney, Phil Nevin, Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui, Joey Votto, Buster Posey, Manny Machado, and Fernando Tatís Jr. are all among them.
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