COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – The eligible voters from the Baseball Writers Association of America still were a grumpy lot when doling out Hall of Fame votes late in 1991, particularly when it came to candidates making a first appearance on the ballot.
Rod Carew was a first-timer and he cleared the 75% hurdle with ease, as one of the names (10 maximum) checked off on 401 of the 443 ballots — a hefty 90.5%.
George Brett came along seven years later and reached 98.2% with 488 of 497 votes.
And now two of the greatest hitters in American League history, Brett and Carew, were in conversation Friday in the lobby of the Otesaga, the historic hotel that serves as home to Hall of Famers making the return to Cooperstown for induction weekend.
There were some laughs, as there always seemed to be when Brett was around, and George mentioned his first of three batting titles as a 23-year-old in 1976. His average rounded off to .333, teammate Hal McRae’s .332 and Carew finished at .331 — and all playing against each other on the final weekend in Kansas City.
That was the only time in Carew’s last seven seasons in Minnesota when he didn’t win the batting title (1972 to ’75, then 1977 and ’78). Brett mentioned that and then, in a brief pause, it was interjected that it was also the day McRae went after Twins manager Gene Mauch.
Brett had gone ahead in the batting race in the ninth inning when left fielder Steve Brye butchered George’s fly ball. The ball bounded over Brye’s head and Brett sprinted to an inside-the-park home run.
McRae still would win the title with a hit, but he grounded out, and then started barking at Mauch in the Twins dugout. The accusation was that Mauch intentionally had outfielders playing too deep to increase Brett’s chances for a hit — not wanting McRae to win the title, perhaps for racial reasons.
