The Pine Tar Game

On July 24, 1983, George Brett hit a home run that was nullified, reinstated, protested, litigated, and finally completed 25 days later in front of 1,245 fans. The sequence of events involved a Hall of Fame hitter, a Hall of Fame closer, a first-year umpire, the president of the American League, the owner of the New York Yankees, a famous attorney, two lawsuits, a notarized affidavit, and Ron Guidry playing center field. It is the strangest game in modern baseball history, and it started with a sticky substance on the handle of a bat.

The Kansas City Royals were trailing the New York Yankees 4-3 at Yankee Stadium with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. U.L. Washington was on first base. George Brett, already a perennial All-Star and the 1980 AL MVP, stepped in against Goose Gossage, the Yankees' fearsome closer.

Brett crushed a fastball into the right field seats for a two-run homer, giving the Royals a 5-4 lead. He rounded the bases and was congratulated in the dugout. The game appeared to be over, pending four outs from the Royals' bullpen.

Then Yankees manager Billy Martin walked to home plate.

Martin told rookie umpire Tim McClelland that Brett's bat was covered with more pine tar than the rules allowed. Pine tar is a sticky substance hitters use for grip. Rule 1.10(b) stated that pine tar could not extend more than 18 inches from the handle of the bat. Martin had known about Brett's bat for weeks. Third baseman Graig Nettles had noticed it during a series in Kansas City earlier that month. But as Brett later explained, the Yankees didn't challenge it when Brett singled in the first inning. "They waited for the right time," Brett said. "And the right time was in the ninth inning when I did something dramatic."

McClelland took the bat and measured the pine tar against the 17-inch width of home plate. The tar extended well beyond 18 inches. McClelland conferred with crew chief Joe Brinkman and the other umpires. Then he turned toward the Royals dugout, pointed the bat, and called Brett out.

What happened next became one of the most replayed moments in baseball history. Brett exploded out of the dugout, wide-eyed and screaming, charging at McClelland with his arms flailing. Several players surrounded the scrum. In the chaos, Gaylord Perry, the Royals' pitcher and a man with extensive experience handling foreign substances, snatched the bat from McClelland's hands and tossed it to coach Rocky Colavito, who tossed it to someone else, who ran it up the tunnel toward the clubhouse. Brinkman and McClelland chased them. A security guard at the top of the tunnel stopped the last man, and the umpires recovered the bat.

With Brett called out as the third out of the ninth inning, the game was over. Yankees 4, Royals 3.

The Royals protested. Four days later, American League president Lee MacPhail upheld the protest, overturning the umpires' decision. MacPhail ruled that while the umpires' interpretation was "technically defensible," it was "not in accord with the intent or spirit of the rules." The pine tar rule existed to keep baseballs clean and reduce the cost of replacing discolored balls, not to punish hitters or erase home runs. "Games should be won and lost on the field," MacPhail said, "not through technicalities of the rules."

MacPhail restored Brett's home run and ordered the game resumed from the point of the home run, with two outs in the top of the ninth and the Royals leading 5-4. He also retroactively ejected Brett for his outburst, along with manager Dick Howser, coach Rocky Colavito, and Gaylord Perry.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was furious. He hired Roy Cohn, the famous attorney, and fought the ruling in court. Steinbrenner's attorneys filed two lawsuits. A New York Supreme Court judge initially granted an injunction against resuming the game. On August 18, an appellate judge overturned the injunction and ordered play to resume that evening.

The teams reconvened at Yankee Stadium at 6 PM on August 18, 25 days after the original game. Brett, having been ejected, was not there. He watched from a restaurant near the Newark airport, eating Italian food.

Martin, still seething, made a point of protesting the proceedings before the first pitch. He put pitcher Ron Guidry in center field and moved left-handed first baseman Don Mattingly to second base. Then he ordered pitcher George Frazier to throw to first base, then to second, appealing that Brett and Washington had missed bases during the home run trot. Umpire Dave Phillips calmly produced a notarized affidavit, signed by all four umpires from the original game, confirming that both runners had touched every base. MacPhail's office had anticipated exactly this maneuver.

Frazier struck out Hal McRae to end the top of the ninth. Royals closer Dan Quisenberry retired the Yankees in order in the bottom. Don Mattingly flied to center. Roy Smalley flied to left. Oscar Gamble, pinch-hitting for Ron Guidry, grounded to second. Game over. Royals 5, Yankees 4. The whole thing took less than 10 minutes.

About 1,245 fans attended, paying a dollar for bleacher seats and $2.50 for general admission, and the Yankees estimated the exercise cost them $25,000.

The following offseason, Major League Baseball amended the rule. The new language codified MacPhail's interpretation. If a bat is found to have excessive pine tar, the bat is removed from the game. Umpires remove the bat but do not call the batter out or nullify any completed play.

Richard Nixon, a New York resident and Yankees fan, had written Brett a letter after the original game. "As one who roots for the home team I am a Yankee fan," Nixon wrote. "As a long time George Brett fan I thought you got a lousy deal. I'll wager they change the rule in the future."

He was right.