He is one of five players in MLB history to accumulate 3,000 hits, 300 home runs, and a career .300 batting average (the others being Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Miguel Cabrera, and Stan Musial).

He graduated from El Segundo High School in 1971 and was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the second round (29th overall) of the 1971 Major League Baseball draft.

[5] Brett won the starting third base job in 1974, but struggled at the plate until he asked for help from Charley Lau, the Royals' batting coach.

Spending the All-Star break working together, Lau taught Brett how to protect the entire plate and cover up some holes in his swing that experienced big-league pitchers were exploiting.

Armed with this knowledge, Brett developed rapidly as a hitter, and finished the year with a .282 batting average, two home runs and 47 RBI in 113 games.

[9] A year later, Brett emerged as a power hitter, batting .312 while clubbing 22 home runs and recording 88 RBI in 139 games, as the Royals headed to another ALCS.

For the three hot months of June, July, and August 1980, Brett played in 60 American League games and hit .459 (111-for-242), most of it after a return from a monthlong injury.

[15] Since Al Simmons also batted .390 in 1931 for the Philadelphia Athletics, the only higher averages subsequent to 1931 were by Ted Williams of the Red Sox (.406 in 1941) and Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres (.394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season).

Wilson overthrew U L Washington, the cut-off man, but Brett was in position behind him to catch the ball, then throw to Darrell Porter, who tagged out Randolph in a slide.

[17] Gossage's previous pitch had been timed at 97 mph, leading ABC broadcaster Jim Palmer to say, "I doubt if he threw that ball 97 miles an hour."

[20] Roughly two weeks later, in a fit of anger, he destroyed two toilets and a sink at Metropolitan Stadium as reported by sportswriter Mike Fish.

After the home run, Yankees manager Billy Martin cited to the umpires a rule stating that any foreign substance on a bat could extend no further than 18 inches from the knob.

The pine tar extended about 24 inches, leading home plate umpire Tim McClelland to signal Brett out and end the game as a Yankees win.

An enraged Brett charged out of the dugout directly toward McClelland, forcing the two umpires and Royals manager Dick Howser to physically restrain him.

Defensively, he won his only Gold Glove, which broke Buddy Bell's six-year run of the award, and finished second in American League MVP voting to Don Mattingly.

In the final week of the regular season, he went 9-for-20 at the plate with seven runs, five homers, and 9 RBI in six crucial games, five of them victories, as the Royals closed the gap and won the division title at the end.

[28] In 1988, Brett moved across the diamond to first base in an effort to reduce his chances of injury and had another top-notch season with a .306 average, 24 home runs and 103 RBI in 157 games.

In September, he caught Rickey Henderson for the league lead, and in a battle down to the last day of the season, captured his third batting title with a .329 mark.

[29] Brett retired after the 1993 season; in his final at-bat, he hit a single up the middle against Rangers closer Tom Henke and scored on a home run by now teammate Gaetti.

Brett was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999, with what was then the fourth-highest voting percentage in baseball history (98.2%), trailing only Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, and Ty Cobb.

His voting percentage was higher than all-time greats Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio.

Brett is one of only five players in MLB history—the other four being Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Miguel Cabrera, and Hank Aaron—to accumulate 3,000 hits, 300 home runs, and a career .300 batting average.

Most indicative of his hitting style, Brett is seventh on the career doubles list with 665, trailing only Tris Speaker, Pete Rose, Stan Musial, Ty Cobb, Albert Pujols and Craig Biggio).

[37] Brett is credited with popularizing the phrase the Mendoza Line,[38] which is used to represent a sub-.200 batting average, historically regarded as unacceptable at the Major League level.

It derives from shortstop Mario Mendoza, a career .215 hitter who finished below .200 five times in his nine seasons in the big leagues—including .198 the year the term is claimed to have been coined by a pair of his teammates in Tom Paciorek and Bruce Bochte in 1979.

[citation needed] Brett referred to the Mendoza Line in an interview, which was picked up by ESPN baseball anchor Chris Berman and then expanded into the world of SportsCenter.

Brett and his dog Charlie appeared in a PETA ad campaign, encouraging people not to leave their canine companions in the car during hot weather.

[45] On July 25, 2013 (the day following the 30th anniversary of the pine tar incident, the Royals announced that Brett would serve as vice president of baseball operations.

[46] In 2015, Brett was the National Baseball Hall of Fame recipient of the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award for his support of current and former service members of the United States Military.

In 1998, an investor group headed by Brett and his older brother, Bobby, made an unsuccessful bid to purchase the Kansas City Royals.