Ken Brett's Home Run Spree: June 1973

Left-handed pitcher Ken Brett is probably best remembered today as the great George Brett's older brother. The elder Brett, however, carved out a pretty good 14-year major league career himself as a journeyman pitcher. Ken and George shared at least one trait on the ballfield. They could both hit. In June 1973, Ken Brett set an all time record for a pitcher by hitting homeruns in four consecutive games. And while that feat is remarkable enough, Brett was also the starting and winning pitcher in those four games. This while pitching for a Phillies team that finished 71-91 and dead last in the National League East Division.

Ken Brett had come up through the Boston Red Sox organization and had indifferent success with them over parts of four seasons. Boston finally gave up on him and traded him to Milwaukee in 1972, where Ken established himself as a starting pitcher. In 1973, the pitching starved Phillies acquired Brett from Milwaukee along with Jim Lonborg and some other minor league arms for Don Money, Bill Champion, and John Vukovich. The trade from the American to the National League was a propitious one for Ken Brett. The American League had just adopted the designated hitter. If he had stayed in the American League, Brett, who had already established himself as a good hitter, if not a great pitcher, would have not been able to bat. 

After starting the season in the bullpen, Brett moved into the Phillies starting rotation to stay in May. He had a 4-2 record and a .312 batting average when, on June 9, he was the starting pitcher against the San Diego Padres and right-hander Bill Greif. In the fifth inning with the score tied at 1-1, Brett led off the inning by hitting his first National League home run to the opposite field in left. The run turned out to be the game winner as the Phillies and Brett won the game 4-1. Brett pitched 7 1/3 strong innings and Bill Wilson picked up the last five outs for the save.

Brett's next start on June 13 turned out to be a laugher. The Phillies scored 12 runs in the first two innings on their way to a 16-3 victory over Tommy John and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Brett hit another solo homer in the fifth inning, this time off reliever Charlie Hough. The Philadelphia Daily News' Bill Conlin reported that Brett's home run was the hardest hit ball in a contest where the Phillies sent rockets all over the ballpark. Brett went the full nine innings for the win.

Ken pitched another complete game in his next start on June 18 against the New York Mets. His home run was another solo shot leading off the third inning against left-hander Ray Sadecki. Brett pulled this one into the right field seats at Veterans Stadium. Ken hit a sacrifice fly in the game for good measure. On the mound, Brett was battered for three runs in the first inning, but the Phillies bats, including his own, of course, bailed him out and he won the game 9-6. Reporting on the home run explosion the Philadelphia Inquirer's Bruce Keidan compared Brett to the most famous slugging pitcher ever - Babe Ruth.

Brett's next start was in Montreal on June 23. He carried a shut out and a 3-0 lead into the top of the seventh, when he lead off with his fourth home run in four games -  a blast off the Expos' Tom Walker. Willie Montanez followed with a 3-run dinger to run the score to 7-0. Brett eventually gave up 2 runs to the Expos, but pitched another complete game, winning 7-2. Baseball writers were running out of superlatives. The Inquirer's Keidan wrote that Brett was " the sweetest swinging pitcher since Red Ruffin was a boy." Ruffin hit 36 home runs in his 22 years with the Red Sox and Yankees from 1924-1947.

As remarkable as Brett's run of four consecutive games with home runs is, but for an umpire error, he would have had five home runs in five consecutive games. On June 3, playing in Candlestick Park against the San Francisco Giants, Brett slammed a Jim Barr pitch over the fence in center field for what should have been a two-run homerun. However, umpire Dick Stello ruled that the ball had gone over the fence on one hop and awarded Brett a ground rule double. Videotape replay showed the ball had cleared the fence, but in the days before videotape review the call stood. In his next start the home run streak began. Mister Four-in-Four was in reality Mister Five-in-Five.

Ken Brett had arguably the finest season of his career with the Phillies in 1973, but his stay in Philadelphia was short. Worried that Brett's persistent elbow problems might limit his future effectiveness, the Phillies traded Ken to the Pittsburgh Pirates for second baseman Dave Cash. Brett would have another good season with the Pirates in 1974, a season in which he hit .310, but never became a top line pitcher over his remaining eight years in the major leagues. Cash became a popular and extremely effective lead off hitter for a Phillies team that was building into a consistent winner.