Kansas City Royals

First Impression; The card always looked off to me and I think that it is because I can now see that this was airbrushed. Brett was on the Dodgers the year prior so they likely just put the KC where the LA was. As a kid I saw this as the adjunct to my George Brett, I mean he was related.

Location: On Field Portrait Pose

Date of birth: September 18, 1948

Date of death: November 18, 2003 (55 years old)

Career stats: Unlike his brother who played his entire career with one team, Ken was much traveled. He played on 10 different teams, with the majority being his first team the Red Sox. Other than the four years with the Red Sox he was never on another team more than 2 seasons. The majority of his career was in the American League with his brother having played for Boston, the Angels, White Sox, Royals, Minnesota, Milwaukee and the Yankees. He played for the Pirates, Dodgers and Phillies in the National League. He was an All Star once in 1974 with the Pirates. He was a starting pitcher most of his career, racking up 184 games started, 51 complete games and another 167 appearances out of the bullpen. He had 8 career shutouts and 11 saves. He was not much of a strikeout artist with 807 in 1526 innings. He gave up a walk about every 3 innings. His career win loss record was 83-85 with a 3.93 ERA.

All Time Stat: 4th overall pick in the 1st Round 1966. Fifteen months later, he 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 pennant by defeating the Minnesota Twins on the final day of the season. 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 threat.

Fun Fact: He was the second of four Brett brothers who played professional baseball, the most notable being the youngest, George.

Service History: Shortly after that World Series, Brett spent six months in the Army Reserve and missed spring training in 1968. 

Links to stories including Brett.