Ken Brett

1967 World Series

At age 19, he was the fourth overall pick in the 1966 Major League Baseball Draft, selected by the Boston Red Sox as a pitcher; the 19 other MLB teams coveted him as a sweet-swinging center fielder. Fifteen months later, Brett was called up to the major leagues from Single-A ball, he participated in the final week of a heated American League pennant race in September 1967. Boston won the league title by defeating the Minnesota Twins on the final day of the season, finishing a single game ahead of both Detroit and Minnesota, and three games ahead of Chicago. Brett was not expected to be on the post-season (World Series) roster to face the St. Louis Cardinals, but was added as an emergency replacement for an injured Sparky Lyle, a transaction requiring the commissioner's approval.

Days later on October 8, Brett became the youngest pitcher ever in the World Series, appearing in relief in Game 4. He pitched a scoreless eighth inning, yielding a walk. In Game 7, he entered the game with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning and induced Tim McCarver to ground out to the first baseman to end the inning. At just 19 years (and three weeks), he gave up no hits in  1 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings in his two appearances.

"Nothing ever fazed him. We had no hesitation about putting him on the World Series roster, none at all," recalled Dick Williams, Boston's rookie manager that year. "He had the guts of a burglar."

1968–81

Shortly after the 1967 World Series, Brett spent six months in the Army Reserve and missed spring training in 1968 and, in his first Triple-A outing back, was left in the game for nine innings. He developed arm trouble and endured a couple of surgeries, and his career never lived up to early expectations. He would later state that the worst curse in life is unlimited potential.

While with the Phillies in 1973, he gave up Hank Aaron's 700th home run on July 21 in Atlanta. "I won the game, so it didn't matter that much to me," Brett said. "Aaron gave me an autographed picture the next day, and I stood there and tore it up in mock anger. I always took the game seriously, but I also had a good time playing it."

Although a much-traveled pitcher who played for ten MLB teams over a 14-year career, Brett did have remarkable career moments. He was the winning pitcher of the 1974 All-Star Game, where he was the only member of the host team Pittsburgh Pirates on the National League squad. Earlier that year on May 27, Brett held the San Diego Padres off base with a perfect game into the ninth inning before settling for a two-hit shutout win in the first game of a Memorial Day doubleheader, which he also had a hit and batted in a run. In the second game, he had a pinch-hit triple to spark a five-run seventh to help the Pirates sweep.

Two years later on May 26, 1976, while pitching for the visiting White Sox, he had a no-hitter going with two out in the ninth in a scoreless game against the California Angels. Jerry Remy's slow roller down the third base line was allowed to roll unplayed by Jorge Orta and amid some controversy, was scored a hit rather than an error. Brett pitched 10 innings and won the game 1–0, in 11 innings. (box score).

Throughout his career, Brett was best known as an outstanding hitting pitcher, perhaps the best of his era. In 347 career at bats, he recorded 91 hits (29 for extra bases), yielding a .262 batting average and slugged an impressive .406. He hit 18 doubles, 1 triple, and 10 home runs with 44 RBI. While with the Phillies in 1973, he hit a home run in four consecutive pitching starts (from June 9 to June 23). In his All-Star year of 1974 with the Pirates, he hit a remarkable .310 (27 for 87), appearing in 43 games (27 as a starting pitcher and 16 as pinch hitter). His .310 batting average was higher than six of the eight starting position players on the Pirates in 1974, a team that won the National League Eastern division title. "I took a lot of pride in my ability to hit," he said. "In high school, I was also an outfielder and a pretty good hitter. I always thought my being able to hit helped me in games, and I pinch-hit a lot for pitchers, although there were a couple times in Pittsburgh when I hit for Kurt Bevacqua. He didn't like that much. I never took extra batting practice or anything like that. On days when I pitched, I'd get my swing in during batting practice." Dodgers Manager Tommy Lasorda was an admirer of Ken Brett's hitting ability and once remarked that "if we'd drafted him, we'd have put him in center field and he'd have stayed there."

Following the 1975 season, Brett played primarily for teams in the American League, which had instituted the designated hitter in 1973. This significantly limited his at bats in the second half of his career, not only as a starting pitcher, but also as a pinch hitter. In 1976 Brett was used as a pinch hitter 12 times for the Chicago White Sox, more than any other pitcher in the American League. In 1978 with the California Angels Brett transitioned to relief pitching.

In 1979, he returned to the National League as a reliever with the Los Angeles Dodgers. At the end of his career, Brett and his youngest brother George were teammates on the Kansas City Royals. Ken was added to the Royals roster in August 1980, the year the Royals finally won the American League pennant and George hit .390 and was the AL MVP.

Brett was released by the Royals following the 1981 season and retired from baseball shortly thereafter. He had a career record of 83–85, with an ERA of 3.93 in 349 games, with 184 starts and 51 complete games.

Brett played for 10 major league teams, but in his nine team changes Ken had been traded a mere six times, and released the last three. "I'll never forget the first time he came on in relief for the Royals," George recalled. "The bullpen was out in right field and they opened up the gate, and he came running in like an airplane -- arms spread out like wings, banking left, banking right, banking left and banking right. I'm on the mound with Jim Frey, our manager, and Jamie Quirk, who I'd played with for years and was Ken's dear friend. And I looked at Jamie and he looked at me, and I said, 'Now I know why he's been traded 10 times.' "

He wore his frequent change of uniforms as both a badge of honor and humor. In a commercial for Miller Lite beer in 1984, he raised a glass in a salute to the town he thought he was in, only to be told he was not in that town. He spun through his mental rolodex and named every major and minor league town he could think of. The punchline—"Utica?"—led to an invitation to the city by the mayor, and then a minor league manager's job in Utica.

Baseball author Bill James wrote that Brett was the best hitting pitcher of the 1970s.

Post-playing career

After a year as a minor league manager in Utica in 1985, Brett worked as a broadcaster for the Seattle Mariners in 1986, then the California Angels for the next eight years. He then coached baseball at the collegiate level, and co-owned minor league baseball and hockey teams and a sporting goods company in Spokane, his home since 1998, with his brothers John, Bobby and George Brett.

Brett, along with his brother and several MLB all-stars, made their guest appearances on ABC's Fantasy Island, Season 1, Episode 10. Brett had no lines, but pitched for the camera and waved. As an inside joke between brothers, George Brett was embarrassed twice on the series - once by dropping a routine infield ball, and a second time by being struck out by a non-athlete who was there fulfilling his fantasy. George has since said that Ken pointed out he would be the perfect "fool" for those moments.

After a six-year battle with brain cancer, which included two operations, Brett died at age 55 on November 18, 2003, in Spokane. He was the third member of the 1981 Royals team to succumb to brain cancer, following manager Dick Howser in 1987 and relief pitcher Dan Quisenberry in 1998.