TWENTY-five years later George Brett admits the “Pine Tar Game” is one of the best things that ever happened to him. It sure beats being the butt of all those hemorrhoid jokes he heard up until that game.
When it happened in the top of the ninth at Yankee Stadium on July 24, 1983, when Brett was called out after hitting a go-ahead, two-run home run off Rich “Goose” Gossage because the pine tar on his bat exceeded the 18-inch limit, he looked like a man who lost his mind going after umpire Tim McClelland.
“When I ran out of the dugout, I had no idea I looked like that,” the Hall of Famer said yesterday. “When I first saw it, I said, ‘You’ve got to be (kidding) me. I really did that in public.’ I was pretty amazed I was that angry.”
Before charging, Brett told teammates Frank White and Vida Blue, “If they call me out for having too much pine tar on the bat, I’ll run out there and kill one of those sons of bitches.”
He was called out and soon ejected.
“I knew he wasn’t going to hit me,” McClelland said. “If he did, I would be owning the Kansas City Royals right now.”
“I’ve always been proud of all the home runs I gave up, but that was probably my proudest one because we had so much fun with it,” said Gossage. Both players will be in Cooperstown this weekend for Gossage’s induction. “Of course, at the time it wasn’t so much fun.”
“The Pine Tar Game was a great thing for me, financially and for my career,” Brett said.
He suffered from hemorrhoids during the 1980 playoffs and World Series.
“Everywhere I went from October 1980 until July 24, 1983, I heard every hemorrhoid joke and the people were just outright nasty,” Brett said. “It was rather embarrassing. Since July 24, 1983, I’ve been known as the Pine Tar Guy and, to me, that’s a no-brainer. What would you rather be remembered as?”
AL president Lee MacPhail overruled the call and Brett’s home run counted. The last four outs of the game were replayed weeks later on Aug. 18. Billy Martin was so upset he made a joke of that segment, sticking Ron Guidry in center and lefty Don Mattingly at second.
The ejection stood and Brett watched the end of the game on TV at a restaurant in New Jersey.
The bat had so much pine tar on it because Brett, who did not wear batting gloves, used it such a long time. Two weeks earlier the Yankees were in Kansas City and Graig Nettles was the one who saw that Brett’s bat was illegal, not Martin.
“We were kind of lying in the weeds,” Gossage said.
Brett sold the bat to collector Barry Halper for $25,000. Rethinking the situation, he bought the bat back for the same price and gave Halper the bat he used to hit three home runs off Catfish Hunter in the 1978 ALCS. He presented the pine-tar bat to the Hall of Fame in 1989.
McClelland and Brett are friends and the umpire said Brett is “the best player toward umpires to come around.” McClelland noted the rule today requires just changing the bat, even after a hit.
Brett would like to restore the bat to its original pine-tar state. He cleaned the pine tar from the illegal area, about five inches, and drew a red line on the bat at the 18-inch mark and used the bat several more games before Gaylord Perry convinced him the bat was part of history.
Still, he never dreamed the Pine Tar Game would become such a big deal.
“Only in New York does that stuff happen,” Brett said. “If it happens in Cleveland, it’s not that big a deal.”
Only in New York, 25 years ago today.