Pine Tar Incident

The baseball bat used by Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett in the Pine Tar Incident on July 24, 1983.

The Pine Tar Incident (also known as the Pine Tar Game) was a controversial incident during an American League game played between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees on July 24, 1983 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. With his team trailing 4–3 in the top half of the ninth inning, with two outs, George Brett of the Royals hit a two-run home run to give his team the lead. However, Yankees manager Billy Martin, who had noticed a large amount of pine tar on Brett's bat, requested that the umpires inspect his bat. The umpires ruled that the amount of pine tar on the bat exceeded the amount allowed by rule, nullified Brett's home run, and called him out. As Brett was the third out in the ninth inning with the home team in the lead, the game ended with a Yankees win.

The Royals protested the game, and American League president Lee MacPhail upheld their protest and ordered that the game be restarted from the point of Brett's home run. The game was restarted on August 18 and officially ended with the Royals winning 5–4.

The incident

Playing at New York's Yankee Stadium, the Royals were trailing 4–3 with two outs in the top of the ninth and U L Washington on first base. George Brett came to the plate and connected off Yankee reliever Rich "Goose" Gossage for a two-run home run and a 5–4 lead.

As Brett crossed the plate, New York manager Billy Martin approached rookie home plate umpire Tim McClelland and requested Brett's bat be examined. Earlier in the season, Martin and other members of the Yankees had noticed the amount of pine tar used by Brett, but Martin had chosen not to say anything until it was strategically useful to do so. Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles recalled a similar incident involving Thurman Munson in a 1975 game against the Minnesota Twins. According to Nettles' autobiography, Balls, Nettles claims that he actually informed Martin of the pine tar rule, as Nettles had previously undergone the same scrutiny with his own bat while with the Twins.

With Brett watching from the dugout, McClelland and the rest of the umpiring crew inspected the bat. Measuring the bat against the width of home plate (which is 17 inches wide), they determined that the amount of pine tar on the bat's handle exceeded that allowed by Rule 1.10(c) of the Major League Baseball rule book, which read that "a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches from the tip of the handle". They ultimately determined that since Brett's bat did not conform to the rules, he was out for hitting an illegally batted ball.

McClelland searched for Brett in the visitors' dugout, pointed at him with the bat, and signaled that he was out, nullifying his home run and ending the game. An enraged Brett stormed out of the dugout to confront McClelland, and had to be physically restrained by Kansas City manager Dick Howser and his teammates. (As one commentator noted, "Brett had the ignominious distinction of hitting a game-losing home run.") Despite the furious protests of Brett and Howser, McClelland's ruling stood.

Due to fear that the bat would be taken to the American League office for inspection, Brett's teammate Gaylord Perry gave Brett's bat to the batboy, Merritt Riley, who was then chased into the clubhouse by security.

Protest and reversal

The Royals protested the game, and their protest was officially heard by American League President Lee MacPhail.

At the time, MLB Rule 1.10(c) stated: "The bat handle, for not more than 18 inches from the end, may be covered or treated with any material or substance to improve the grip. Any such material or substance, which extends past the 18-inch limitation, shall cause the bat to be removed from the game." At the time, such a hit was defined in the rules as an illegally batted ball, and the penalty for hitting "an illegally batted ball" was that the batter was to be declared out, under the explicit terms of the then-existing provisions of Rule 6.06.

However, MacPhail upheld the Royals' protest. In explaining his decision, MacPhail noted that the "spirit of the restriction" on pine tar on bats was based not on the fear of unfair advantage, but simple economics; any contact with pine tar would discolor the ball, render it unsuitable for play, and require that it be discarded and replaced—thus increasing the home team's cost of supplying balls for a given game. MacPhail ruled that Brett had not violated the spirit of the rules nor deliberately "altered [the bat] to improve the distance factor".

MacPhail's ruling followed precedent, established after a protest in 1975 of the September 7 game played between the Royals and the California Angels. In that game, the umpire crew had declined to negate one of John Mayberry's home runs for excessive pine tar use. MacPhail, who also heard this protest, upheld the umpires' decision with the view that the intent of the rule was to prevent baseballs from being discolored in game play, and that any discoloration that may have occurred to a ball leaving the ballpark did not affect the game's competitive balance.

MacPhail thus restored Brett's home run and ordered the game resumed with two outs in the top of the ninth inning with the Royals leading 5–4. Although MacPhail ruled that Brett's home run counted, he retroactively ejected Brett for his outburst against McClelland. Howser was also ejected for arguing with the umpires, and Perry was ejected for giving the bat to the batboy so he could hide it in the clubhouse.

Conclusion

Strategic maneuvering

The Yankees resisted the resumption of the game, and waited until near the end of the season to agree to it, to see if the game would have an effect on the standings or should be forfeited.

After ordering the resumption of gameplay, MacPhail and other league officials held a strategy session to anticipate tricks the Yankees might use to prevent the game from continuing.

Legal battle

For the resumption of the game, the Yankees announced that they would charge non-season-ticket holders a $2.50 admission fee to attend. Two lawsuits were filed against the Yankees and Bronx Supreme Court (trial court) Justice Orest Maresca issued an injunction, also requested by the Yankees, preventing the game from being resumed until the lawsuits were litigated. Maresca also cited the Yankees' expressed concerns about security problems resulting from confusion over admission to the game.

That injunction was immediately appealed by the American League and was overturned by Supreme Court Appellate Division Justice Joseph Sullivan. The Royals, who were in flight during that day's legal battles, did not know that the game would be played until they arrived at Newark Airport.

The Yankees finally agreed to allow admission for the game's conclusion to anybody with a ticket stub from the July 24th game at no additional charge.

Resumption of play

On August 18 (a scheduled off day for both teams), the game was resumed from the point of Brett's home run, with about 1,200 fans in attendance. On paper the scoring of the incident reads as follows: a home run for Brett, on the play Brett, Gaylord Perry, Rocky Colavito, and manager Dick Howser were ejected, game suspended with two outs in the top of the ninth.

Brett himself did not attend the game, and after the team landed in New Jersey, he departed directly for Baltimore, where the Royals were scheduled to play a four-game series—although other sources indicate Brett stayed at the Newark airport playing hearts.

A still furious Martin symbolically protested the continuation of the game by putting pitcher Ron Guidry in center field and first baseman Don Mattingly at second base. Mattingly was ostensibly placed at second because the second baseman from the July 24 game, Bert Campaneris, was injured, and Guidry replaced original center-fielder Jerry Mumphrey, who had since been traded to the Houston Astros. By keeping Mattingly and Guidry in the game and filling-in at needed positions, Martin was able to avoid "wast[ing] a possible pinch hitter or runner."

Mattingly, a lefty, became a rare Major League southpaw second baseman; no left-hander had played second base or shortstop in a big-league game since Cleveland Indians left-handed pitcher Sam McDowell was switched from pitcher to second base for one batter in a game in 1970 against the Washington Senators. Through the 2015 season, Don Mattingly remains the last left-hander to play second base in a Major League game.

Base touching affidavit

Before the first pitch to Hal McRae (who followed Brett in the lineup), pitcher George Frazier threw the first ball to first base to challenge Brett's home run on the grounds that Brett had not touched first. Umpire Tim Welke (given incorrectly in some sources as Tim McClelland, the original home plate umpire) called safe, even though he had not officiated the July 24 game and seen the base touch. Frazier then threw to second, claiming that the base was touched by neither Brett nor U L Washington, the other player scoring on the home run, but umpire Dave Phillips signaled safe.

Billy Martin went on the field to protest, and Phillips pulled out a notarized affidavit, produced by MacPhail's administrative assistant Bob Fishel, signed by all four umpires from July 24 indicating that Brett had touched every base. Fishel had been the official to anticipate—or gain word—that Martin would protest the base touching and the umpires' personal knowledge of it.

Martin claimed to be surprised by the affidavit because he had spoken by telephone to the first base umpire from July 24, Drew Coble, and Coble had said that he wasn't looking at first base when Brett had circled first base. As he exited the umpires announced that the game was being played under protest by the Yankees. After leaving the field, Martin sat in the players' clubhouse watching the television police comedy Barney Miller.

Resumed game play

Yankees reliever George Frazier struck McRae out to end the top of the ninth, twenty-five days after it had begun. Dan Quisenberry then got New York out 1–2–3 in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the Royals' 5–4 win.

The loss placed the Yankees in fifth place, three and a half games out of first.

Quisenberry gained his league-leading 33rd save, while Mattingly lost a 25-game hitting streak.

After-effects

The bat is currently on display in the Baseball Hall of Fame, where it has been since 1987. During a broadcast of Mike & Mike in the Morning, ESPN analyst Tim Kurkjian stated that Brett used the bat for a few games after the incident until being cautioned that the bat would be worthless if broken. Brett sold the bat to famed collector and then partial owner of the Yankees, Barry Halper, for $25,000, had second thoughts, repurchased the bat for the same amount from the collector and then donated the bat to the Hall of Fame.

The home run ball was caught and sold by journalist Ephraim Schwartz to Halper for $500 plus 12 Yankees tickets, as well as Schwartz's ticket stub. Halper also acquired the signed business card of Justice Orest V. Maresca, who had issued the injunction, and the can of Oriole Pine Tar Brett had used on the bat. Gossage later signed the pine-tar ball, "Barry, I threw the f***ing thing."

The winning pitcher for the Royals was reliever Mike Armstrong, who went 10–7 that year in 58 appearances, notching career highs in wins and games. In a 2006 interview, Armstrong said an angry Yankees fan threw a brick from an overpass at Kansas City's bus, cracking the windshield as the Royals were leaving for the airport after the resumed game.

"It was wild to go back to New York and play these four outs in a totally empty stadium," Armstrong said in 2006. "I'm dressed in the uniform, and nobody's there."

Before a scheduled game against the Yankees at Kauffman Stadium on May 5, 2012, the Royals gave each fan who attended the game a replica baseball bat designed to look like the one Brett used with the pine tar.

Media references

Country music artist C. W. McCall dedicated the song "Pine Tar Wars" to the event, composing a lyric that featured a quite accurate telling of the relevant facts of the story. The lyric is strongly critical of Billy Martin (Tar Baby Billy)

See also

• Pine tar#Use of pine tar in baseball

External links

• "The Most Controversial Game Endings in Sports: The Pine Tar Incident"—TIME magazine
• The Infamous Pine Tar Incident - Video | MLB.com
• Box score from the Pine Tar Game
• Baseball's Best: The Pine Tar Game - Video | MLB.com
• "The bat boy tells his version of the pine-tar tale involving George Brett and the Yankees." (subscription required)
  • The radio version of the story, featuring an interview with the batboy, Merritt Riley.