Today in Royals history: Brett collects three hits in sixth straight game

This one is kind of personal for me. Not because I remember George Brett getting three base hits in six straight games in May of 1976. It's because the following season Topps immortalized Brett's achievement in a special baseball card.

The summer of 1977 was the first year I collected baseball cards. If I remember correctly, a pack was $0.15. The Royals were the hot team in baseball and Brett was tagged with the coveted "All-Star" declaration at the bottom of his card. I was also enthused to find there was another Brett card in the '77 set. Card number two. The card pictured with this post.

The card was cool because it was an action photo. Back then, Topps didn't have too many baseball cards with action photos. To me, it's the iconic Brett card. He probably smacked a line drive over the head of the second baseman in this picture and is thinking about stretching his single into a double. Nice.

We all know the story of Brett's breakout season in '76. But for that week in May, he was invincible. On May 8, the Royals were visiting Memorial Stadium in Baltimore and Brett was hitting .277/.338/.354. That night, he collected three hits in four at bats.

He went on quite the hot streak:

May 8 - 4 AB, 3 H (1 R)
May 9 - 5 AB, 3 H (1 R)
May 10 - 5 AB, 3 H (1 2B)
May 11 - 3 AB, 3 H (1 BB, 1 RBI)
May 12 - 5 AB, 3 H (3 R, 2 RBI)
May 13 - 4 AB, 3 H (4 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB)

At the end of the streak, Brett's slash line was .396/.444/.495 and he was on his way to his first batting title.