Pine Tar Home Run Shirts!
Long Ball City commemorates one of the wildest homers in baseball history!
Charge out of the dugout and grab yours now (here)!
The Pine Tar Incident
July 24, 1983
On a mild Bronx summer afternoon, one of the wildest scenes to ever take place on a baseball diamond unfolded at Yankee Stadium—so wild, in fact, that a book would later be written about it.
With two out in the top of the ninth inning, Kansas City Royals star George Brett stepped to the plate against New York Yankees closer Rich “Goose” Gossage and smacked a two-run homer to right field, giving Kansas City a 5-4 lead.
After Brett circled the bases and returned to the Royals’ dugout, Yankees manager Billy Martin strode to the plate to ask the umpiring crew to examine Brett’s bat for a potential pine tar infraction.
Martin claimed Brett’s bat handle was coated with excessive pine tar—the sticky substance used to aid batters in gripping their bats—past the rule-permitted length of 18 inches from the bat’s knob.
After measuring the bat handle using the width of home plate (17 inches), the umpires agreed that the bat had too much pine tar and ruled Brett out for an equipment violation. This call gave the Yankees the win—temporarily, at least.
Incensed by the ruling, Brett exploded, leaping from the dugout in a flailing, screaming rage. Umpires and teammates could hardly restrain him, and he was promptly ejected, along with Royals manager Dick Howser.
During the confusion, Royals pitcher Gaylord Perry tried to hide the bat, but a security guard prevented him from confiscating the evidence. Perry was ejected as well.
After the game, the Royals filed a protest, which was upheld by American League president Lee MacPhail, who ruled that Brett did indeed break the pine tar rule, but the home run should stand, since the rule was in place to minimize the discoloration of baseballs.
MacPhail said the extra pine tar gave Brett no competitive advantage, and amid subsequent lawsuits, Yankee protests, sworn affidavits, a left-handed second-baseman, a pitcher in centerfield, and a virtually empty Yankee Stadium, the game resumed August 18.
Yankees reliever George Frazier struck out Hal McRae to end the top of the ninth, then Royals closer Dan Quisenberry retired three straight New York batters in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the Royals’ 5–4 win, 25 days after the game had begun.
Get your commemorative shirt here!
Photo: April Gebken Photography
Model: @calliecarroll22
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