On September 20th, 1980, George Brett who was trying to become the first hitter with a ..400+ batting average since Ted Williams in 1941 went 0-4 against the OAKLAND Athletics. That brought his season batting average below .400. He ended the season with a .390 batting average.

In my mind, .400 is the Holy Grail of baseball statistics. It is the ultimate measure of excellence in the art of hitting.

Modern, data-driven followers of America’s Pastime no longer put as much weight on batting average as they used to. I disagree.

Batting average is an outcome-based stat that tells me what I most want to know about a hitter: can they hit the baseball where others ain’t. Isn’t that the whole point? Why else do they have a bat in their hands?

Hall-of-Famer George Brett played from 1973-1993, all with the Kansas City Royals.

• He won 3 batting titles (1976, 1980, and 1990)
• He was voted American League MVP in 1980
• He made 13 All-Star Games.
• He led the league in hits 3 times
• His life-time BA is .305

George Brett is the second best third basemen of all-time (second only to Brooks Robinson, of course). He is easily in my top 20 players that I have gotten to see play in person.

45 years ago one of the greats almost hit .400. I’d love to see someone flirting with that number again.