Ken Brett: 4 Starts, 4 Homers: MLB Mark
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Lefthanded pitcher Ken Brett, the older brother of Kansas City Royals’ great Hall of Fame 3rd baseman George Brett and who passed away in November, 2003 at 55 after a long battle with brain cancer, never compiled earth-shattering won-loss records (83-85 lifetime) or stats during his 14 year MLB career. But he did come away from his career with a MLB record and a couple of other notes of distinction including a pretty fair lifetime ERA of 3.93.
Baseball Library writes of Brett;
Although later overshadowed by younger brother George, in 1967 Ken became the youngest pitcher (19 years, one month) to pitch in a World Series game. He went on to tie the modern record for playing with the most teams (10).* A three- time 13-game winner, the clever lefty was the winning pitcher while representing the Pirates in the 1974 All-Star Game at Pittsburgh.
*Note:
Yahoo’s answers notes that Brett does not hold the MLB record for having played on the most teams as journeyman pitcher Mike Morgan played for 12 different teams.
Brett nearly pitched a no-hitter on May 26, 1976 for the Chicago White Sox against the California Angels which was spoiled by a controversial ninth inning slow roller down the 3rd base line was allowed to roll unplayed and which was scored a hit rather than an error. Brett went on to pitch the tenth inning and got credited for the win by a 1-0 score when the White Sox pushed home a run in the eleventh inning. Brett gave up 2 hits for the game.
But Ken Brett was best known for his hitting. Wikipedia notes;
He was the fourth overall pick in the 1966 baseball draft, selected by the Boston Red Sox as a pitcher; the 23 other MLB teams coveted him as a sweet-swinging center fielder.
Baseball Library described Ken Brett’s hitting skills this way;
A good hitter (.262), he set a record for pitchers in 1973 by homering in four straight starts with the Phillies.
Baseball Library continues by recording that on June 23, 1973;
Phillies pitcher Ken Brett beats the Expos 7-2 and hits a HR for a ML-record 4th consecutive game‚ three of them leading off innings. He hit HRs on 13th‚ and 18th‚ all solo: he will total 10 homers for his career.
Brett’s 4th homer in 4 starts capped the consecutive homer string as he completed the latter 3 games of the 4 game streak. Brett hit his 4th homer of the string two years to the day after another Phillies pitcher, Rick Wise no-hit the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 while belting 2 homers in the game.
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