Thursday, September 4, 2008

#700 George Brett



Why this card is awesome: Because although I love George Brett, this card shows him with creepy zombie eyes, which always scared me a little bit. This card also has a nice sense of motion though, and looks particular good next to Eddie Murray's card--an all-blue Royal next to an all-orange Oriole.

Cool stat: Brett had at least 2 triples every year from 1974 to 1993, as did Robin Yount. Brett had nearly as many triples over that period as Willie Wilson. When I think of triples, I don't think of Brett or Yount, but both guys had tons. In 1990, Brett also had one of the highest seasons of OPS+ for a guy 37 or older with at least 600 PAs.

Simply put, Brett was awesome. He remains the only guy to win batting titles in 3 different decades (1976, 1980, and 1990.)

Hall of Fame count: 44

Hey, that's two cards in a row with a HOFer.

4 comments:

Jim said...

OK, I have been watching baseball for 30 years, but I have no idea what OPS+ is.

Andy said...

OPS is OBP + LG.

OPS+ is OPS corrected for ballpark and year. So an OPS+ of 100 is basically exactly average for that given year, corrected for ballpark.

A fairly light-hitting player will have an OPS+ of 80-90, whereas guys who get on base and/or hit a lot of extra base hits will get more like 110-120. Big home run hitters and/or guys with very high OBP will get into the 150 range.

It's a very handy way of comparing guys on a more even basis.

Mike S said...

"this card shows him with creepy zombie eyes"

This is what has always bothered me about this card.

MMayes said...

George Brett was the best hitter I've watched play in the last 35 years. I love his '88 Score because those "creepy zombie eyes" are following the ball right onto the bat (although I don't think he had a good result on that card).