Hall of Famer George Brett and his family have owned the Spokane Chiefs since 1990, and Sportsnet.ca's Patrick King sat down to talk to the legend about his love of the CHL.
KITCHENER, Ont. -- George Brett may soon need to have his ring finger re-measured.
The Hall of Fame third baseman was in Kitchener, Ont., taking in the 2008 MasterCard Memorial Cup as his Spokane Chiefs, the team he co-owns with his family, represent the Western Hockey League. The Chiefs are one of four teams in the tournament and hold a 2-0 record, with a win or Gatineau Olympiques loss earning them a bye to Sunday's final.
Looking down at a glimmering 1991 Memorial Cup championship ring on his hand, Brett adjusts it around his finger.
"It doesn't fit anymore," he explained. "For some reason, I don't know if my knuckles got bigger or the ring shrank, but I put this on whenever I go to hockey games."
Which he admits hasn't been as often as it used to be. Before heading to Kitchener on Friday, Brett spent half an hour looking around his home before finally finding the ring which he wore to a Chiefs game for the first time in three years.
There was a time, however, when Brett found reasons to make the trip from Kansas City, Mo. to Spokane, Wash. to take Chiefs games in person.
The Brett family purchased the team before the 1990-1991 season, the same year the Chiefs won their only Memorial Cup title to date. Brett was traveling with the Royals who were in Toronto, playing the Blue Jays when his Chiefs were competing in their first Memorial Cup in Québec City, Que.
Since he was unavailable to the team on the field, Brett brokered a deal with the Royals which allowed him to attend the games in Québec City.
"I talked with my manager and said, 'Hey look, as long as I come to the stadium and get my rehab done, can I take off for a couple days because my hockey team's playing up in Québec City?' and he said, 'Yeah, no problem.' So I flew from Toronto to Québec City and I got to go to two games in the Memorial Cup."
From then on, Brett was hooked. It wasn't long until the Chiefs then became an excuse to relieve himself from diaper duty with his three young kids.
"I didn't get married until I was 38-years-old and I retired when I was 40 and by the time I was 42, I had three kids under three so I got to go to a lot of games then because I had three kids under three-years-old, three in diapers and I would just tell my wife that, 'Hey, I have to go to Spokane. We have some hockey games and my brother needs me there for some reason.'
"He didn't need me; I just needed to get out of the house."
Although baseball was the family's favourite past-time, the hockey bug hit Brett's brother Bobby from an early age. Bobby was a regular at Los Angeles Kings games long before the sport jumped in popularity in southern California after Wayne Gretzky's trade to the Kings in 1988.
"My brother Bobby always liked hockey," he said. "He was the first one of anyone I knew that had season tickets to the Kings games and obviously when Gretzky came to L.A. everyone wanted tickets but my brother had them before so his tickets became very, very valuable."
George and Bobby owned several minor league baseball teams starting in the mid-1980s. Among the teams they owned was one in Spokane when the Chiefs were undergoing some financial issues. Given the family's passion for sports, it wasn't long before Bobby pitched the idea to George about expanding their ownership interests.
"He came to me and said, 'What do you think?' and I said, 'We don't know anything about hockey.' We know a lot about baseball and we owned two or three teams then. So he said, 'I think we can make it work. We'll just hire the right people.'
As thus, Tim Speltz was brought in to serve as the team's general manager during their first season as owners, the same post Speltz still holds today.
"As long as I'm not involved in the daily decisions of the team, player personnel, and my brother's not, we should be alright."
As a fan learning the game, Brett was not unlike many hockey fans who enjoyed the raw energy and physicality of the game, especially when opponents would drop the gloves.
"When I first started following it, I was more interested in a fight to happen but I think the more you watch hockey and understand how the game's played, fights don't turn you on as much as they used to."
Brett spent the weekend in Kitchener, taking in all three games. What stands out most, he said, is the level of talent exhibited on the ice.
"If you don't watch hockey every day, you would think you're watching a professional hockey game. These guys are that good and that athletic."
Not only has Brett been impressed by the talent on the ice, but also by the atmosphere at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium and the excitement around the city.
"I'm very impressed with the city of Kitchener, the way they are able to handle all these people and the way it's run first class and very impressed with the arena… I'd rather be in a place like this than at the Forum in L.A. or the Sprint Center in Kansas City or the Boston Garden in Boston. I think these little towns like this; they put on such a good show that it makes it a lot more fun.
"It gives all of Canada a chance to focus on Kitchener because everybody loves hockey in Canada. The Memorial Cup is just as big a story going on right now in the country because it's all these kids from all these small towns spread out all over the country and are playing for different teams.
"It's amazing what a loud arena does for athletes, especially when they're cheering for them. You almost become supernatural."
A growing family with a heavy baseball and football schedule and his commitments with the Royals as the team's vice-president of baseball operations have contributed to the infrequent visits to Spokane.
However, if the Chiefs advance to Sunday's Memorial Cup final, Brett said he would try to make a second trip back to Kitchener for the game.
And should his Chiefs be successful in their bid for a second Memorial Cup championship, Brett will be sporting some new jewelry at his next Chiefs game.