25 Years Ago George Brett Lost His Mind

When I was a junior in high school I was up in the Kansas City area with a friend and his family. We stopped at I think a Quik Trip store in an upscale part of Kansas City, Kansas when a sports car pulled up with a hot blonde as I recall in the passenger seat getting out and buying some alcoholic beverages (beer). By the time we saw the car pull out my friend and I noticed it was George Brett driving the car. (Thanks SI.com)

George Brett was my idol growing up. I loved the way he played the game, always going all out which explains why he was injured a lot. I even pattered my batting style after him.

I bring this up because as I’m writing this, it’s been 25 years since the infamous Pine Tar Game when George Brett absolutely lost his freakin’ mind at Yankee Stadium. (Thanks Baseball-Almanac.com)

Here’s the history lesson for you kids. Back then the Kansas City Royals mattered in the American League and the Royals/Yankees rivalry was on par with the Yankees/Red Sox today. It was a hot lazy Sunday afternoon in Yankee stadium and the Royals were trailing the Yankees 4-3 when George Brett stepped to the plate facing the best reliever of the game then, Goose Gossage, with 2 outs in the top of the 9^th with U.L. Washington on base. Brett promptly launched a Gossage fast ball into the seats to give the Royals a 5-4 lead.

Yankee manager Billy Martin claims Brett used an illegal bat, too much pine tar. Umpire Tim McClelland examines the bat, looks toward the Royals dugout and calls Brett out, game over Yankees win, Thaaaaaaaaaa Yankees win. That’s when Brett changed out of the dugout to confront McClelland and had to be physically restrained. (You kids do yourself a favor a watch the video, its good TV.)

Brett told Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star: “When I was running out of the dugout I had no idea I looked like that,” Brett says. “When I first saw (the video), I said, ‘You gotta be (kidding) me. I ” really did that in public?’

George Brett accomplished a lot during his 20 year career. A championship ring 3,000 hits and a first ballot induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But he will always be remembered for an at bat on July 24, 1983. I’m sure that’s better than being remembered for sitting out Game 2 of the 1980 World Series because of hemorrhoids.

The post script to this is that American League President Lee McPhail ruled that Brett’s bat was illegal it did not violate “The Spirit of the Rules.” That the rule only provided for the removal of the bat, not calling a batter out. McPhail ordered the game resumed at the point of Brett’s home run. They played a month later with the Royals winning 5-4 and oh yeah, Billy Martin got tossed from that game.

Now let’s have some fun. Just think if the Pine Tar Game happened today. Can you imagine the wall to wall coverage on ESPN. The Baseball Tonight Crew demonstrating in studio how Brett broke the rule, Bob Ley would have an Outside The Lines show ready within hours and Jeremy Shaap would have an investigative piece done for the next days Sports Center. It would be gavel to gavel coverage for months.

Of course the Par Tar Game 25 years ago happened before sports talk radio came along. This would give Mike and the Mad Dog, The Herd or Point/CounterPoint (wait, damn, we not on the air right now, sorry.) months and months of material. You think the Brett Farve saga has a shelf life beyond its expiration date, this would be replayed, rehashed and re told to the point where you a screaming ENOUGH. That’s the difference between 1983 and 2008. Of course where I live, it might have been talked about today but SEC Media Days took priority and it was Georgia’s day to talk.

Kind of ironic that the stars of the “Par Tar Game”, George Brett and Goose Gossage, are in the Baseball Hall of Fame but they will be forever linked to a bizarre afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

That's it... I'm spent...

--John Wilkerson