WHY GEORGE BRETT JUST GAINED POINTS

I never thought that George Brett was a nasty Son of a Bitch or anything like that. George Brett was a competitor, a nasty competitor that did it better than most players every time he was out there.  That's why he's in the Hall of Fame and was inducted in 1999, read HERE. Look, I've had my opinions on Brett but no doubt the guy played hard to win. Forever the pine tar game sticks in my mind and I just remember how irate he was after his go ahead home run was overruled that day in 1983. In fact, look for a piece soon on my memories of that famous Pine Tar game. That being said, Brett just gained points in my book, huge points this weekend and I like him more now.

As you may or may not know, Derek Jeter just passed George Brett on the All-time Hit list into 14th place (3155) and while a lot of these guys don't always come out with statements acknowledging these type of feats, Brett did. Here's his statement, courtesy of MLB.com HERE:

"I'm always kind of bummed out when guys pass you, because you had your own place in the record book for a while... But a guy like Derek comes around and passes you, really, I think it all depends on the type of person that did it. I have the utmost respect for him... He's definitely a team player, he's a clutch player. He's been the backbone of [the Yankees] for a long, long time, and when a guy like that passes you, I'd like to shake his hand and look him in the eye and say 'Congratulations.'"

I like that...class. I like that a lot because it goes with everything us fans have been saying forever. Derek Jeter leads by example, is the classiest player I've ever seen and it's just a huge respect thing...on both sides by the way.  Here's what Jeter said about passing Brett:

"It goes without saying how great of a player he is... I've always had a lot of respect for George Brett and what he was able to accomplish. I was aware of it a few days ago."

So yeah, respect runs huge in Major League baseball for guys with class. Brett's got class for saying what he did, Jeter's got class as a whole and hell, you need to love the respect factor all around here. Next up, a big one...Cal Ripken Jr. whose #13 on the list with 3184. Good stuff and congrats to the Captain...again.

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