The Incident
Playing at New York's Yankee Stadium, the Royals were trailing 4–3 with two outs in the top of the ninth and U. L. Washington on first base. George Brett came to the plate and connected off Yankee reliever Rich "Goose" Gossage for a two-run home run and a 5–4 lead.
As Brett crossed the plate, New York manager Billy Martin approached rookie home plate umpire Tim McClelland and requested Brett's bat be examined. Earlier in the season, Martin and other members of the Yankees had noticed the amount of pine tar used by Brett, but Martin had chosen not to say anything until it was strategically useful to do so. Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles recalled a similar incident involving Thurman Munson in a 1975 game against the Minnesota Twins. According to Nettles' autobiography, Balls, Nettles claims that he actually informed Martin of the pine tar rule, as Nettles had previously undergone the same scrutiny with his own bat while with the Twins.
With Brett watching from the dugout, McClelland and the rest of the umpiring crew inspected the bat. Measuring the bat against the width of home plate (which is 17 inches wide), they determined that the amount of pine tar on the bat's handle exceeded that allowed by Rule 1.10(c) of the Major League Baseball rule book, which read that "a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches from the tip of the handle." They ultimately determined that since Brett's bat did not conform to the rules, he was out for hitting an illegally batted ball.
McClelland searched for Brett in the visitors' dugout, pointed at him, and signaled that he was out, nullifying his home run and the game over. An enraged Brett stormed out of the dugout to confront McClelland, and had to be physically restrained by Kansas City manager Dick Howser and his teammates. (As one commentator stated, "Brett has become the first player in history to hit a game-losing home run.") Despite the furious protests of Brett and Howser, McClelland's ruling stood.
Due to fear that the bat would be taken to the American League office for inspection, Brett's teammate Gaylord Perry then gave Brett's bat to the batboy who was chased into the clubhouse by security.
Read more about this topic: Pine Tar Incident
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