Brett Lewis' in Professional Baseball (Part 4) – an Epilogue

(Picture: George Brett, the origin of this scribe's first name, and likely that of two of the three Brett Lewis' who played professional baseball)

This is the fourth and final installment of Brett Lewis' in Professional Baseball. (Part 1); (Part 2); (Part 3). 

Ecce panis angelorum! In other words, behold the bread of angels! It was not uncommon for boys born in the late 1970s and 1980s to be named after George Brett, a mythical ball player who was a third and first baseman for a major league team in middle America, the Kansas City Royals.

He was a handsome guy. He had grit. He had passion. He had wit.1 And for those with contemporary interests, he inspired an award-winning song by the recording artist Lorde.

But most of all, he was really good at baseball. And that's what matters to American men when they name their sons.

The author of the Brett Lewis' in Professional Baseball series was named after George Brett in 1987.

Brett is the only baseball player to win batting titles in three different decades (the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s). He accumulated over 3,000 hits in his major league baseball career. His team won the World Series in 1985. He was a first-ballot hall of fame baseball player, receiving an unprecedented percentage of the vote.

Essentially, he was the man.

In a twist of fate, this Brett A. Lewis would guess that both Brett A. Lewis' who played professional baseball were likely named after George Brett. Brett A. Lewis of Douglasville, Georgia, was born in April 1979. By then, Brett had won one batting title, had led the league in doubles and was named to the American League All Star team three times. Brett A. Lewis of Dallas, Texas, was born on March 16, 1985, the same year George Brett's Royals would win the World Series. By 1985, Brett had won another batting title in 1980, a year he went deeper into a season than anyone since Ted Williams while maintaining a .400 batting average.2

George Brett was the angel, and the Bretts who followed were merely the crumbs that fell to earth. Loathsome is the pressure of being named after the infallible!

However, us Brett Lewis' solider on the best we can because it's what George Brett would do.

1. Brett had to leave game-2 of the 1980 World Series because of hemorrhoid pain. He had surgery the next day and hit a home run in Game-3. After the game, he said, "my problems are all behind me."

2. Brett H. Lewis was almost certainly not named after George Brett as he was too old, having likely been born in the late 1960s before George Brett captured America's imagination. He was probably named after a drunken Scottish grandfather.