October 3, 1976: American League batting race between George Brett, Hal McRae, Rod Carew ends in controversy

As the Kansas City Royals overcame the Oakland A’s for their first-ever American League West Division title in 1976, Royals teammates George Brett and Hal McRae and Minnesota Twins hitting star Rod Carew battled for the AL’s batting crown. The three-way race came down to the regular-season finale between Kansas City and Minnesota on October 3 at Royals Stadium.

In a dramatic set of events, Brett overtook McRae with a controversial inside-the-park home run that McRae accused Twins manager Gene Mauch of orchestrating, implying that racism had motivated the play that left Brett, the Royals’ White third baseman, percentage points ahead of their Black designated hitter, McRae.

At the beginning of September, McRae held a substantial lead (.350) in batting average over Brett, (.331) and Carew (323). But McRae slumped during September and October (.264), while Brett hit .342 and Carew hit .364.1 Going into the final game of the season, McRae held a minuscule edge over Brett in batting average, .33078 (173-for-523) to Brett’s .33073 (212-for-641). Carew’s .32945 (198-for-601) batting average was within striking distance of the Royals’ duo.

Despite losing 8 of 10 games before the finale, the Royals had already claimed the division championship. The A’s – winners of the previous five AL West titles – made a valiant run to overtake the Royals but ultimately fell short by 2½ games.

With the division race settled, the 15,655 attendees at Royals Stadium could focus on the tight batting race.

The 24-year-old Brett was in his fourth major-league season in 1976. He had emerged as a productive hitter, having led the American League with 195 hits in 1975. McRae, 31, was in his fourth season with the Royals. He had been a member of the 1970 and 1972 Cincinnati Reds Big Red Machine National League pennant-winners and an AL All-Star selection in 1975 and 1976. Carew, who celebrated his 31st birthday during the final week of the 1976 season, had won five AL batting titles, including four in a row from 1972 through 1975.

Royals manager Whitey Herzog and Mauch agreed before the game that they would refrain from issuing intentional walks so as not to disadvantage their opponent in the final batting averages.2 Herzog told McRae and Brett they would play the entire game with the batting title at stake.3

The Twins’ Jim Hughes and Royals’ Paul Splittorff drew the starting pitcher assignments. Right-hander Hughes had been used as both a starter and reliever, posting an 8-14 won-lost record for the third-place Twins. Splittorff was making his first start in over a month, after recovering from a hand injury. The left-hander, who had recorded eight consecutive winning decisions in June and July, was 11-7 going into the final game.

The Twins put up the first run in the first inning. Walks to Dan Ford and Carew, followed by a wild pitch to Larry Hisle, placed runners on second and third. Hisle then singled to score Ford.

Craig Kusick led off the third inning for the Twins with a single. Two groundouts moved him to third before Hisle doubled him home. Steve Brye followed with another double, scoring Hisle. Jerry Terrell’s single scored Brye, putting the Twins ahead 4-0.

Hughes retired the first nine batters he faced, including Brett and McRae.

In the bottom of the fourth, Kansas City’s Amos Otis lined a single to left field. Brett followed with a hit that went over Ford’s head in right field. (This hit was also suspicious. Ford misplayed the ball that reasonably could have been caught, causing Brett to question the play’s credibility.4) Otis scored, but Brett was thrown out at third trying to stretch a double into a triple. McRae singled in his second at-bat before the inning ended with a 4-1 score.

Brett led off the bottom of the seventh with another double to right field. For the second time, McRae matched Brett’s hit with a single that scored Brett. At this point McRae maintained his fraction of a lead; both players were 2-for-3. Meanwhile, Carew had a double and a walk in four plate appearances through the seventh inning.

The Twins added a fifth run in the eighth when Otis – a three-time Gold Glove winner – misplayed Mike Cubbage’s fly ball to center field for an error, allowing Terrell, who had singled and stolen second, to score. Carew stayed alive in the race with a single in the ninth inning.

Going into the bottom of the ninth with the Twins leading, 5-2, McRae remained in the lead with .3327 (2-for-3), while Brett was at .3318 (2-for-3) and Carew was at .3306 (2-for-4).

Hughes was still in the game, having yielded only five hits. After he retired Otis on a fly ball, Brett hit a routine fly to left field. Brye, who was playing deep for the lefty-hitting Brett, ran in for the ball, but stopped short of trying to make a catch. The ball bounced off the artificial turf, flew over Brye’s head, and went to the wall. Brett ended up circling the bases, sliding under the tag at home plate for an inside-the-park home run.5

McRae congratulated Brett with a handshake before getting into the batter’s box,6 facing the pressure of getting a hit to stay ahead of his teammate. On a two-strike pitch, Hughes jammed McRae into a groundout to shortstop.

As he walked off the field to an ovation from the crowd, McRae stopped and made an obscene gesture – a clenched fist and folded arm – toward Mauch in the Twins dugout. Words were exchanged and they charged each other before they were restrained by respective teammates. Players from both teams emptied the dugouts and bullpens and ran onto the field, but no physical altercation took place.7 Once the field was cleared and play resumed, John Mayberry walked and Jim Wohlford hit the game-ending groundout. The Twins took the win, 5-3.

Splittorff, who was pulled after four innings, took his eighth loss of the season. Hughes’s complete game earned him his ninth win. It was his final major-league win.

Brett (3-for-4) finished with a .3333 batting average, while McRae’s two-hit game gave him a .3320 average. Carew’s 2-for-4 performance resulted in a .3306 average for third place.8

After the game, a bitter McRae asserted that Brye had not made a legitimate attempt to catch Brett’s fly ball. When asked why he was upset, McRae said, “It’s too bad things are like that in 1976,” implying that racial bias was a factor in the situation, since McRae was Black, and Brye and Mauch were White. McRae added, “But they’ll always be like that. This is America. Not much has changed.”9

McRae, who did not direct any animosity toward Brett, went on to say, “In my mind I know I won it. I’m glad in a way that George won, but I hate to see him win it in that way. I know they let the ball drop.”10

“I got a present from the Twins,” Brett said about the hit that gave him the batting title lead.11 Yet other reactions from both teams defended Mauch.12

In the Twins’ clubhouse, explanations for what occurred on Brett’s hit centered on where Brye was positioned for the at-bat. Mauch maintained that he had instructed Brye “to play Brett behind the shortstop and not deep.” Brye took responsibility for his misplay. “I messed up. I was playing too deep. I thought the ball was hit deeper. I didn’t see it too good. I made the mistake of playing too deep on my own.”13

Upon hearing speculation that Brye and Mauch may have plotted together to allow Brett an opportunity to record a hit, a boiling-mad Mauch defended his left fielder: “I trust Steve Brye implicitly. And if I didn’t, I’d run him out of baseball.”  For his own part, he added, “That [suggestion that Mauch engaged in unfair play] hurt me worse than anything in my 35 years in baseball. I can’t believe anybody would think I’d do anything to hurt the integrity of this game.”14

American League President Lee MacPhail conducted an investigation of the controversial play and found that “there was no evidence or reason to believe that any plays in the games were unfairly motivated.”15 16

Still, it was unfortunate that a dramatic game that decided a batting title ended on a sour note.

The Royals lost the AL Championship Series to the New York Yankees, three games to two. It was the first of four times these teams met in the postseason in a five-year stretch.

Acknowledgments

This article was copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: George Brett, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA197610030.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1976/B10030KCA1976.htm

Notes

1 When McRae finished second to Brett after the final game of the season, he blamed himself for not maintaining his wide advantage through the end of the season. Del Black, “Bitterness at the End,” Kansas City Times, October 4, 1976: 1D.

2 Bob Fowler, “Did McRae Plant Seeds for His Own Beef?” The Sporting News, July 20, 1976: 26.

3 Joe McGuff, “Batting Title Furor Deserves Inquiry by Kuhn,” Kansas City Star, October 4, 1976: 15.

4 “Brett, Madlock Cop Bat Titles,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 4, 1976: 2C.

5 George Koppe, “Brett Wins Bat Crown: McRae Furious with Twins,” Kansas City Times, October 4, 1976: 6B.

6 Del Black, “Bitterness at the End,” Kansas City Times, October 4, 1976: 1D.

7 Gary Libman, “Brett Wins Batting Title, McRae Angry,” Kansas City Times, October 4, 1976: 1C.

8 Carew had previously won five batting titles. His third-place finish in 1976 broke a string of four consecutive titles. He rebounded in 1977 with the highest batting average (.388) of his career and then repeated as champion in 1978. Twins teammate Lyman Bostock finished in fourth place (.323) for highest batting average in 1976. Not in contention for the batting title, he missed the last two games of 1976 due to a pulled hamstring.

9 Black, “Bitterness at the End”

10 Black.

11 Brett commented on his at-bat, “[Hughes] jammed me with the pitch and when I hit it I knew it was just a fly ball. Then I looked and Brye had stopped even though the ball was still way up in the air. I swear he just stopped and let it bounce in front of him.” “Controversy Mars Finale,” Minneapolis Star, October 4, 1976: 13B.

12 Royals manager Whitey Herzog didn’t believe Gene Mauch was involved. “I just don’t think Gene Mauch would ever do anything like that.” “Controversy Mars Finale.” Carew sided with Herzog: “I think it was bad for McRae to accuse Mauch. Gene did all he could to keep everything fair.” Sid Brodman, “Brett’s Clinching Hit Draws Rage Reviews,” Kansas City Star, October 4, 1976: 18. Black Twins players Carew and Larry Hisle said racism was not involved in the incident. Libman, “Brett Wins Batting Title, McRae Angry.”

13 Black, “Bitterness at the End.”

14 Black.

15 Bob Fowler, “One Misplay … Could It Wreck Brye’s Career?” The Sporting News, July 23, 1976: 34.

16 Brye never played for the Twins again. They left him unprotected in the expansion draft, but neither Toronto nor Seattle selected him. The Twins sold his contract to Milwaukee in March 1977.