Red Sox Magic Number - 18

With the Yankees losing to the Mariners and the Red Sox beating Toronto - the Red Sox magic number is now 18.

When I was a kid we had an electric organ (the precursor to the electric keyboard) and I learned to play two songs on it. The two songs were Amazing Grace and Alice Cooper's I'm Eighteen. Just thought I'd toss that out there. I also should mention the fact that Alice Cooper released the song I'm Eighteen in 1971 when Cooper was 23-years old.

Daisuke Matsuzaka got the win against the Blue Jays to improve to 14-11 with a 4.11 ERA on the season. Dice-K also happens to wear the uniform number 18. There's a little bit of serendipity there. However, Dice-K isn't the Red Sox number 18 I wanted to say something about. I wanted to mention Ken Brett.

Ken Brett is mostly remembered today as the brother of Hall of Famer George Brett but it should be remembered that he was as highly anticipated a player as Dice-K when he was drafted with the 4th overall pick in the 1966 baseball draft. Brett was just 18 at the time he made his debut with the Sox (there's that number again). When the Red Sox drafted him - there was some debate as to whether they should make Brett a pitcher or an outfielder. It is very possible that the Red Sox made the wrong choice.

Ken Brett finished his career with an ERA+ of 93 - which means he was slightly below average as a pitcher (average being 100). As a hitter Brett had an OPS+ of 94 - which means he was slightly below average for a hitter but his OPS+ was better than his ERA+. Brett also averaged a HR every 34.7 at bats. His power and overall batting was excellent for a pitcher and would have been even better if he concentrated on it full time like his brother George.

Ken Brett died 4 years ago of brain cancer. He was 53.