Brett’s first son was born in spring training of his final season, and two more sons soon followed. He coached them in Little League and flag football. He never left Kansas City, though it was not always easy being the public face of a bad team.

“People used to ask me, when we had that stretch, ‘You still work for the Royals?’ — and I’d say, ‘Not really!’ ” Brett said. “Now people ask me and I say, ‘Hell, yeah, I do!’ I’m proud to be a member of this organization.”

Officially, Brett is the vice president for baseball operations, but he has no real responsibilities. He sits with Moore during games, offers opinions and lets Moore do with them as he pleases.

The old days come rushing back now and then, like during a recent series in Colorado, when Brett heard chants of “Let’s Go Royals” in the crowd. It delighted him, he said, to know that the Royals might still have a foothold in Denver. Before baseball expanded there, he said, it was Royals territory. On summer weekends, he said, the parking lots were jammed, the license plates from all over.

“They have no idea what it was like back then,” Brett said of the current Royals, “because they weren’t born.”

When the Royals fired their hitting coach last May — they did so again this May — Brett stepped into the role. He loved the players’ team-first attitude, he said, but thought they wore themselves out by taking too many swings in practice.

Brett resigned after two months, weary of the travel but also because he knew the Royals could not fire him, and he doubted he was making an impact. He is content to throw batting practice in spring training and leave the coaching to others.