Hall of Famer Boosts IBT
George Brett, who was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame overwhelmingly on his first eligible ballot, is a longtime friend of IBT.
George has spoken at IBT Awards dinners, provided signed "Brett Brothers Bats" for award-winning Heavy Hitter sales reps, played golf with IBT customers and friends and just hung out. George has also appeared on IBT videos.
In early July, however, George's friendship with IBT went a step farther. In an interview on ESPN2's morning sports show, Cold Pizza talked with George.
The purpose of the interview was to discuss baseball sensation Joe Maurer, catcher for the Minnesota Twins. Maurer was a major newsmaker because of his torrid bating average, then in the high .380's.
As one of the last major leaguers to approach a legendary .400 season batting average, George Brett was a timeless interview for a number of reasons.
Not only was he a great hitter who had ended up with 3,154 hits, a World Series ring (1985), three batting titles (1976, 1980, 1990), an MVP Award (1980) and many other baseball distinctions far too numerous to mention, he also knew full well the challenges of making a run at .400: the media coverage, the pressure, the physical difficulty in achieving the feat, and the rarefied atmosphere that goes along with it.
For his on-camera interview, George was nattily attired. He was outfitted in a yellow polo-type shirt, with a bright red IBT emblazoned on the left breast. Naturally, he looked great.
By the way, glory is a fleeting thing. George Brett appeared in 2,707 major league baseball games, all of them as a Kansas City Royal. He had 10,349 official At Bats. His final batting average was .3047, rounded up to .305. Had he had five more hits during his career, it would have raised his average up to .3052. But, had the additional hits come during his 1980 run at "400", his average that year would have been .401.
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