Editing George Brett (section)

====1980 postseason====
During the 1980 post-season, Brett led the Royals to their first American League pennant, sweeping the [[1980 American League Championship Series|playoffs]] in three games from the rival [[1980 New York Yankees season|Yankees]] who had beaten K.C. in the [[1976 American League Championship Series|1976]], [[1977 American League Championship Series|1977]] and [[1978 American League Championship Series|1978]] playoffs. During Game 2 of the [[1980 American League Championship Series|1980 ALCS]], [[Willie Randolph]] was on first base in the top of the eighth with two outs and the Royals up by just one run. [[Bob Watson]] hit a ball to the left field corner of [[Kauffman Stadium|Royals Stadium]]. The ball bounced right to [[Willie Wilson (baseball)|Willie Wilson]], but Wilson was not known for having a great arm, and third base coach [[Mike Ferraro]] waved Randolph home. Wilson overthrew [[U L Washington]], the [[cut-off man]], but Brett was in position behind him to catch the ball, then throw to [[Darrell Porter]], who tagged out Randolph in a slide. TV cameras captured a furious [[George Steinbrenner]] fuming immediately after the play. The Royals won 3–2. Brett claimed after the game that he had deliberately positioned himself to cut off the throw in case Washington missed it, but [[Tommy John]] of the Yankees disagreed, thinking that if Brett had been backing up Washington, he would have been between shortstop and home plate, not over behind third base. Either way, he was in the perfect position to throw out Randolph.<ref name="John">{{cite book|last1=John|first1=Tommy|last2=Valenti|first2=Dan|title=TJ: My Twenty-Six Years in Baseball|publisher=Bantam|location=New York|year=1991|isbn=0-553-07184-X|pages=207–08}}</ref> In Game 3, Brett hit a ball well into the third deck of [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]] off Yankees closer [[Rich Gossage|Goose Gossage]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 29, 2022 |title=1980 ALCS recap |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/1980-alcs-recap |access-date=March 29, 2023 |website=[[MLB.com]] |publisher=[[MLB Advanced Media]] |language=en}}</ref> Gossage's previous pitch had been timed at 97&nbsp;mph, leading ABC broadcaster Jim Palmer to say, "I doubt if he threw that ball 97 miles an hour." A moment later Palmer was given the actual reading of 98. "Well, I said it wasn't 97", Palmer replied. Brett then hit .375 in the [[1980 World Series]], but the Royals lost in six games to the [[1980 Philadelphia Phillies season|Philadelphia Phillies]].<ref name=":0"/> During the Series, Brett made headlines after leaving Game 2 in the sixth inning due to [[hemorrhoid]] pain. Brett had minor surgery the next day, and in Game 3 returned to hit a home run as the Royals won in 10 innings 4–3. After the game, Brett was famously quoted "...my problems are all behind me".<ref name="behind">{{cite news |last=Kaegel |first=Dick |date=March 5, 2009 |title=Memories fill Kauffman Stadium |work=[[MLB.com]] |publisher=[[MLB Advanced Media]] |url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090305&content_id=3921596 |url-status=dead |access-date=July 8, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202224915/http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090305&content_id=3921596 |archive-date=December 2, 2013}}</ref> In 1981, he missed two weeks of spring training to have his hemorrhoids removed.<ref name="hemorrhoids">{{cite news |date=March 1, 1981 |title=Brett in Hospital for Surgery |work=[[The New York Times]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE2DC1439F932A35750C0A967948260 |url-status=live |access-date=February 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211025738/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE2DC1439F932A35750C0A967948260 |archive-date=February 11, 2009}}</ref>