 "My brothers (Bobby, John, Ken) and I entered the bat business with the goal of ensuring that coaches at all levels of baseball have access to superior quality composite wood bats that are cost effective." The Brett Brothers have been involved in baseball their entire lives.
We are four brothers and all of us played professional ball at one time. Bobby and John played in the Minor Leagues, and Ken and George together put in 31 years in the Major Leagues.
Not only did we play baseball because we were good, we truly loved the game. Even today we closely follow the sport. George still works for the Kansas City Royals.
Ken has been a broadcaster for 11 years with Fox. Bobby runs our professional franchises here in Spokane, the baseball Indians and the hockey Chiefs. The oldest brother John is a frequent visitor here to see his brothers and watch our teams play.
Like most baseball families, it all started in a small Southern California town called El Segundo. The boys are all about two years apart, and we had some kind of sporting event about every night. I remember most of our family meals were hot dogs, and everything was on the fly. Our parents were always there to cheer for us, and our lives were generally very happy.
Ken was the first to sign a pro contract at age 17. He was the fourth player taken in the annual draft by the Boston Red Sox. When their scout Joe Stephenson came to sign him, our dad said, "the one you really want is the skinny, barefooted one, George." George in 1966 was all of 12 years old.
If you move up the clock to 1971, George was a senior, and Joe Stephenson desperately wanted him to be Boston's #1 pick. The Red Sox said no, and the Kansas City Royals took George in round #2. The rest is history. Ken played 11 years for numerous teams. George turned out to be exactly the player our late father envisioned.
He was a 3-time winner of the Batting Title in three different decades. He was very consistent, and always played the game very hard. He was the greatest Royal, and still makes his home in Kansas City. In the summer of 1999, he was awarded Baseball's highest award, election to the Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
In the spring of 1998, the Tridiamond Bat Company needed a place to "try out" their new baseball bats. Because the Bretts owned the only local professional team, an association was formed.
When Tridiamond got both NCAA and Major League approval to sell bats, they needed some baseball help. At this time we bought into the company and changed the name to Brett Bats. |
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