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The Pine Tar Game:

The Pine Tar Game:

The Pine Tar game occurred on July 24, 1983, in which the Kansas City Royals battled the New York Yankees. With the Royals in the lead, 4-3, two outs in the top half of the ninth inning, George Brett hits a monster two-run home run to give the Royals the lead. But, Billy Martin, the manager of the New York Yankees at the time noticed an unusual amount of pine tar on the handle of George Brett's Louisville Slugger. Martin brought this matter to the attention of the home plate umpire as well as all of the others. The officials decided to overturn the home run for the reason that Brett's bat exceeded the legal limit of pine tar, and the score returned 4-3. they ended up calling Brett out, and the Yankees won the game. This issue was brought up to the president of the American League, Lee MacPhail, and he stated that the game be restarted to the point of Brett's home run. On August, 18th, the game was restarted and the Kansas City Royals ended up winning 5-3. 

George Brett Relives Pine Tar Game:

George Brett is forever remembered and known for the pine tar incident and to this day he relives the whole thing moment by moment. In an interview with Brett, he states, "Every time I play golf they want to check my clubs for tine tar. After a while it gets old. But that's what I'm known for. And it could be worse. Look at Bill Buckner." In the same interview he says, "I'll kill one of those SOB's. I looked liked my dad charging through the house when I brought back my report card. It wouldn't have been so bad if Joe Brinkman hadn't grabbed me from behind and pulled me back." Although there are many layers to the story, the bat itself is the best. "Best bat I ever had, Brett said. It was a Louisville slugger which was unvarnished and composed of several grains of ash.

Louisville Slugger:

Some 130-plus years passed since Bud Hillerich first met with Pete Browning in his father’s woodworking shop. Ever since, Louisville Slugger has sold over 100 million bats – making it, without a doubt the most popular bat brand in history. Louisville Slugger continues to dominate both the wood and aluminum bat worlds, with countless baseball players using their bats. In the past decade, many national college baseball champions have worked their way to the top with Louisville Slugger bats in their arsenal. Loaded in history and tradition, Louisville Slugger will continue to grow and evolve. Recently, the company has gone far beyond bats, building innovations in performance technology by creating equipment ranging from batting gloves and helmets to training aids and accessories for players.

1983 News Reports.

As the pine tar debacle continued, the New York Times published an article after 25 days of upheld protests and two decisions by the courts. The article stated that after George Brett hit his two-run bomb, the game was reinstated four days later, in which the game continued on August 18th, in which George Brett did not show up to. He flew to New York City from Kansas City with his entire team, but did not accompany them at their game at Yankee Stadium. Brett, including three other team members and manager, Dick Howser were ejected by Lee MacPhail for their heated reactions toward the umpires that bizarre Sunday afternoon. For several hours, it was not going well for the completion of the game. There were two filed law suits by fans who were complaining about the ticket policy for that game. Supreme Court Justice Orest V. Maresca issued a preliminary injunction barring the completion of the game. For fans who did not have rainchecks or season tickets, the Yankees charged them $2.50 for reserved seats, and only $1 for the bleacher seats. The Yankees estimated that it had to of cost them about $25,000 to restart the game. After the game was over, the New York Yankees were surprisingly happy to talk about the game. Most of the players who spoke about the loss, blamed it on the pine tar incident, which is what it seems like. 

Was Pine Tar the Catalyst for The Use of Corks?:

According to a Sports Illustrated article, Murray Chass, brings up how George Brett played with people who used pine tar on their bats as well as the use of a cork, which is not legal by any means. Brett had been questioned after he hit the home run if he had corked the bat, because at the time, the umpires had been checking the bat to examine it, and thankfully, Brett did not find a need for a corked bat, nor did he know how to apply a cork into a bat. But at the time, he had an excessive amount of pine tar on the handle of his bat. And ruling, 6.06 follows corking and also pine tar as bat alterations and they are illegal to be used in the game resulting in an ejection. There are a few players back in the day in the MLB who used corked bats but were never caught, such as Bob Dillinger, Amos Otis, Andre Thornton, and Norm cash, have all admitted to using corked baseball bats in their time. 

Umpires Speak Out:

On that July 24th afternoon, the umpires were the main target for George Brett, as explained in a Daily News Article written by Mark Lelinwalla. "I knew he wasn't going to hit me or run over me =, and if he did, I'd probably own the Kansas City Royals right now." Said umpire, McClelland. "We had done what we had to do that day, which was to administer the rules," he said. I think its safe to say George Brett storming out of the dug out that at was the most memorable part of the whole night, and his reaction was the biggest part of him getting tossed, and later suspended.