In 1980, George Brett hit .390, flirting with the magical .400 line all season long. He was hitting .406 on August 30th and was at .400 as late as September 19, game number 148 on the season. In the last forty years, we've really only seen a handful of players get this close to .400.
What drove Brett's quest that season was an absolutely insane July. Brett played regularly through June 10, before hitting the DL. To that point, he was having a MVP-level season, but not necessarily an all-time great campaign, hitting .337/.407/.609. Ho, hum.
On July 10th Brett returned, going 2-4 in a 3-2 Royals win (Splitt picked up the win). The next day he went 3-5 as Jack Morris expertly pitched to the score in a 7-3 Royals win. And that was pretty much the entire month. Brett hit .586/.636/.862 in his first seven games back, raising his batting average to .374. A 2-3 game on the final day of the month pushed him all the way up to .390.
Overall his July line was .494/.541/.812 in 98 PAs. Crazy.
In August he hit .430 and got over .400 on the season. Too bad he only hit .324 in September.
So really, we should just pause and reflect on that month. One of the greatest players of all time, in one of his best seasons, in the middle of an absolutely insane hot streak. Your homework assignment is to find other singularly great Brett months.
1 recs | 34 comments
July, 1985
Brett hit .432/.534/.726 in 116 PAs
Discolando - February 15, 2012
He slumped in August of 1985...
… and only hit .365/.458/.708 in 118 PAs
Discolando - February 15, 2012
They totally squandered his effort that season
marbotty - February 15, 2012 via mobile
In 1990 George was having a pretty crummy season
He was 37, and perhaps his career was winding down. On June 30, he was hitting .256/.331/.325 in 266 PAs.
He then hit .388/.442/.716 in the month of July in 129 PAs.
He hit .369/.416/.602 in the month of August in 113 PAs
And finished up hitting .396/.434/.638 in September in 99 PAs.
He won his third batting title.
RoyalsRetro - February 15, 2012
was this after a trip to the A's clubhouse where he met Jose Canseco?
PhattStairs - February 17, 2012
May 1979 .388/.431/.636 in 130 PAs
March/April 1983 .460/.528/.921 in 72 PAs – he began the year with a 24 game hitting streak.
RoyalsRetro - February 15, 2012
Think about how much "trim" he was able to pickup
at Kelley’s that month. It must have been astronomical.
“Wilt the Stilt” would have been proud.
Bronzillo - February 15, 2012
3,000 hits
marbotty - February 16, 2012
Brett's seasons
July 1985 = .432/.534/.726
August 1977 = .356/.438/.731
August 1985 = .365/.458/.708
June 1982 = .379/.471/.641
August 1982 = .342/.386/.724
May 1979 = .388/.431/.636
August 1986 = .364/.425/.636
RoyalsFan - February 15, 2012
More
Whoops… Forgot about:
July 1990 = .388/.442/.716
June 1988 = .333/.426/.602
August 1987 = .309/.418/.609
RoyalsFan - February 15, 2012
More again
and forgot about:
August 1979 = .358/.403/.624
July 1983 = .336/.395/.655
May 1985 = .350/.415/.621
RoyalsFan - February 15, 2012
Let us also commemorate
May and June of 1976 – May was .384/.435/.520, followed by a June of .375/.402/.550.
May 1976 was when he had 6 3-hit games in a row, May 8-13, which is why that month sticks in my memory. No one has had a longer streak of consecutive 3-hit games going back to 1954.
2X2L - February 15, 2012
I wonder what his best 162 game stretch was
That spanned more than one season?
RoyalsRetro - February 15, 2012
I remember that July
I was almost 10 years old and I started tracking his BA on a daily basis. It was the first time I ever calculated stats (I had to calculate his BA after every game because there was no internet to show his current stats. It wasn’t even on the box score in the next day’s newspaper).
Scott McKinney - February 15, 2012
I'm pretty sure I learned...
…basic math due to baseball.
timlacy - February 15, 2012
the table showing the top BAs in each league
was only a weekly inclusion. and they wouldn’t always include both leagues for some reason. i’d be so bummed when it was the NL.
billexgordler - February 15, 2012
How About A
Best composite season based on his best career April, May, June, etc.?
philofthenorth - February 15, 2012
.407/.471/.729
KHAZAD - February 15, 2012
Thanks, I Think
He’d pass the audition with that.
philofthenorth - February 15, 2012
WOW. These numbers are getting into...
Chuck Norris/Bill Brasky meme territory.
2motley4thetitle - February 15, 2012
nicely done
johnny4 - February 16, 2012
I wonder how many Polk points he would have garnered in 1980?
buddyball - February 15, 2012
Few
I doubt he was laying down many sac bunts.
Scott McKinney - February 15, 2012
I wonder if you get extra Polk points for playing with hemmoroids?
buddyball - February 15, 2012
roid rage
I wouldn’t be very happy either.
Bronzillo - February 16, 2012
You jest, but
one of the MVP voters in 1980 elected to vote for Rick Cerone over Brett.
So it’s not as though the worship of intangibles is a new phenomenon.
WaywardSaint - February 15, 2012
"ned i need a trainer, my changeup is sick"-bruce chen
-Danny Duffy’s twitter, we fanshotted it should you need the link.
And with that BC totally earned his entire contract.
Official Arrowhead Pride Parade - February 15, 2012
that joke is terrible
pure velveeta
Bronzillo - February 16, 2012
Hey
his OBP was only 69 points below Brett’s batting average.
KHAZAD - February 16, 2012
Given the lack of a good catcher-defense metric
Who’s to say he might not have been more valuable?
cmkeller - February 16, 2012
I'll give it a try.
“Rick Cerone was not a more valuable baseball player than George Brett in 1980. The voter who decided that he was should have been whipped, broken, and driven across the land.”
WaywardSaint - February 16, 2012
I was at KU in 1980 and I remember looking at the boxscores every morning in
the Lawrence
UrinalJournal World and being constantly amazed. He was so freaking hot.buddyball - February 16, 2012
easy there pal
Bronzillo - February 16, 2012
Plus he has awesome pants!
kabrink - February 17, 2012
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