WHY I STILL REMEMBER THAT DARN PINE TAR GAME

I don’t know why, but I was thinking about the Pine tar game, a game that for some reason, I remember it crystal clear.  I remember not only the game itself in July, but the continuation of the game in August.  It was a spectacle in that 9^th inning and I remember hating the Royals almost as much as I hated the Red Sox back then.

Let’s face it, George Brett was damn good and maybe it was because it was rumored that he and his brother Ken Brett hated the Yankees (Read HERE) and I was just forming a line in the sand or if the rivalry was just huge back then, I don’t exactly remember, I mean, it was 1983 and there wasn’t an Internet, but I got the information I could from the papers and that’s where the opinions started forming for me.

But it was that pine tar.  I remember clear as day Billy Martin coming out and examining the bat with the umps after Brett putting the Royals in the lead.  I remember the “out” call and I remember Brett’s emotions went from joy to anger, all caught on TV. I will never forget George Brett running out on the field like he was literally about to murder anyone in his way.  At the time, of course I sided with the Yankees, and thought “The pine tar was all over the bat…you can’t do that.”

It was clear though, I had no idea if there was a rule against it or not.  Just so you know, the rule was pine tar could only be used on the handle of the bat and no higher than 18”. Years later, watching Jorge Posada bat with pine tar all over the place on the bat handle, no batting gloves, I often used to think back to the pine tar game because that day rocked New York and I was curious so I looked it up to see if the rule had ever changed or not.

In 2002, they have the same rule. But that was Billy Martin at his best…stategizing and getting under the other team’s skin… I miss him for that. And, just for some background, after the Royals protested, American League President Lee Macphail overruled the umps and stated that the umps should have just discarded the bat, not take away the homer.  Anyway, the game resumed on August 18^th, the Royals won 5-4…the home run stood.

Years later I had an opportunity to meet George Brett, shake his hand, chat a bit and he signed a baseball card that one of my sons now has in his collection.  Meeting guys like Brett and even Harmon Killabrew or Tony Perez  years later is always fascinating to me. But thinking about that old Pine tar game, looking at old pictures or old video of it, well, I transform back to a child again...great memories all around, even though we lost that game, I'll never forget it.

 
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