Catching up with George Brett at Royals' camp

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SURPRISE, Ariz. -- In his 52nd year with the Royals organization, there’s no other place George Brett would rather be than in a dugout or watching batting practice.

You can find him on the back fields of the Royals’ Spring Training complex watching hitters or in the dugout during Cactus League games, having conversations with Minor Leaguers, big leaguers and coaches.

MLB.com caught up with the Hall of Famer last week in Surprise. (Note: This Q&A was edited for length.)

MLB.com: Fifty-two years in the organization. What does that number mean to you?

Brett: It means that the organization had a lot of confidence in me. They had a lot of trust in me. At the same time, I had a lot of trust in it. You look back at my career, ‘74 was my first full year, and the Oakland A’s were the world champions. They were in our division. In ‘75, we scared them a little bit, but they won the [division] again. In ‘76, ‘77, ‘78, we made the playoffs. In ‘79, we missed by three games. In ‘80, made the playoffs, ‘81, made the mini-playoffs because of the strike. In ‘84, made the playoffs -- that’s the last contract I signed. In ‘85, won the World Series. I only played in two World Series, but I wasn’t one of those guys that was going to go be a free agent. I enjoyed playing in the postseason. And seven out of my first 12 years in the big leagues, we were in the playoffs.

There aren’t many of us who played for 20 years for the same team, and it’s one of the things I’m proud of most. They had enough confidence in me, I had enough confidence in them.

MLB.com: There have been quite a few Royals alumni in camp this week. What stories do you swap with guys like Steve Busby, Dennis Leonard, Willie Wilson, Bo Jackson and Mike Sweeney? And newest Royals Hall of Famer Ned Yost, too.

Brett: Busby doesn’t come around much, so it’s been nice to see him. Leonard likes to tell stories about Paul Splittorff, because they were best friends. Willie always tells golf stories. We both love golf. I’ll tell you a story I just heard. Me, Bo, Sweeney and Ned were in there, and Ned was talking about playing in Double-A against the Memphis Chicks. He was saying, "Bo, I don’t know if you remember this, but I was catching, and you hit a ball over the tower in left field." And Bo told the whole story. They had no idea who each other was at that time, but they were both telling the story from their perspective.

Ned said it was the farthest ball he’s ever seen hit. I’ve been to that stadium in Memphis, and I just remember bleachers in left field and then a fence, and then Bo said there was a big dirt parking lot and then a tower beyond that. The ball hit the tower. So yeah. That’s what we do. We tell stories and talk about the good old days.

MLB.com: You’ve been in camp since Day 1 this spring. What are your impressions of the new staff, manager Matt Quatraro and the Royals’ performance this spring?

Brett: I love it. It’s more relaxed. I never thought it was unrelaxed last year, though. I thought that’s just what it was like in every Major League camp. But coming here this year was the first year I didn’t really know the coaching staff, and it’s been good. I didn’t know Quatraro, I don’t know any of the pitching coaches. I met Matt two minutes before he did his introductory speech to the whole team. But I’ve gotten to know him, and I’m impressed.

MLB.com: I know it’s just spring, but there have been some pretty good performances so far.

Brett: People say it doesn’t matter if you win in Spring Training. Bull [crap]. A couple days ago, I went up to Matt all excited because of our record, and he said, "George, it’s only Spring Training." I said, "I just hate to lose in anything. I don’t give a [crap] if we go in there and play chess. I’m going to try to win."

MLB.com: What are your thoughts on Bobby Witt Jr.’s rookie season, and how do you think he takes another step forward in 2023?

Brett: I think he’s a really good player. Really good. He was 21 when he came up, right? He was more advanced of a player in his first year than I was in my first year. My first year, I was hitting .200 at the All-Star break. Then by the grace of God, Charley Lau was our hitting coach and said, "Hey, I’ve been watching you, and you haven’t made one adjustment yet." He said, "If you’re willing to change a few things, I can work with you. I’m the only coach who thinks you’re a Major Leaguer. Everybody else wants to send you down to Triple-A."

He turned my whole life around just by teaching me a few things about hitting. Bobby Witt is more of an all-around good player than I was at age 21. And he’s going to be really good.