The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #49 George Brett

Storming into the list at #49 is Royals third baseman, George Brett. Brett spent all 21 of his seasons with the Royals. Brett won the AL MVP in 1980 and had a strong case in 1976 and 1985, finishing runner up in both seasons. He led the league in OPS+, hits, triples, slugging percentage, and runs created three times and he won three batting crowns. He joins Stan Musial as the only two players in history with at least 650 doubles, 130 triples, and 300 home runs, and he also joins Musial as the only two players in history with 3,100 career hits and 300 home runs with fewer than 950 strikeouts. He’s the only player since 1942 to hit at least .390 in a single season (min. 500 plate appearances).  He’s 10th all-time in intentional walks, 6th in sacrifice flies, and 7th in doubles. As impressive as Brett’s regular-season career was, he was even more impressive in the playoffs. He won the ALCS MVP in 1985 while leading the Royals to a World Series title. Among players with at least 180 postseason plate appearances, Brett is second all-time in career postseason slugging percentage (Nelson Cruz), batting average (Steve Garvey), and OPS (Albert Pujols). 

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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