It was the brain child of Billy Martin. He was rather slick especially the way he screwed with Reggie Jackson when he did not allow him to hit 4th in the lineup for quite some time.
When I was a kid, for years all I was ever shown was Brett running from the dugout, but I never knew why until a few years ago. This was a great explanation, especially of the Yankees even trying to use the court system to stall the replay of the game. I didn't know about that.
I remember watching this game. I was 13 then and lived about 10 miles from Yankee Stadium. When George Brett came charging out of the dugout, I was glad that I wasn't there. Despite being a Yankees fan, I couldn't help but wonder: how does pine tar make a difference? When Brett fouled off Gossage's pitch prior to hitting the home run, I thought, "Goose, he's thinking home run; don't give him one he likes." I said "Uh oh!" before Frank Messer said it. I never thought I'd be watching baseball's most historical games and incidents.
Replace 10 miles away with 4 miles away and I could be writing your answer, lol as we were same age and my reaction to it was just like yours. Gossage was almost unhittable in his prime, but Brett had his number kinda like how Altuve always homered off Chapman.
**CORRECTION** Greg Nettles played at third base, not first base as mentioned. ------------ Hey Sports Historians! What did you think about the pine tar game? And what about the Yankees trying to prevent the game from being resumed? Let me know!
The rule book says "Excessive pine tar requires the bat to be removed from the game" THAT'S IT. Nothing about taking runs off the board. The 6.06 rule you refer to is only for a player who steps out of the batter's box to hit the ball. I.E. he's being intentionally walked. A team waits for the batter to finish as Brett did at their own peril. McClellan REALLY blew this call.
@@stephaniegormley9982 McClelland was mind fk'ed by Billy fk'ng Martin! So was George Brett. That was a brilliant piece of managing out of the box as Martin buffaloed the entire officiating crew.
These teams hated each other so it makes this call much much sweeter if you're a NYY fan. Didn't stick,but the fact Brett and the Royals were so incredibly upset is a satisfying AF win all it's own. Speaking of Graig Nettles at 3rd,there's a play where Brett slid into Nettles hard and Nettles kicked him while he was down! Brett immediately went ape sht and a brawl ensued! Nettles commented later on something about kicking a pile of sht being normal hahahaha! Man I miss those gladiator days of sports.
@imarriedabrkfsttaco3737 Nettles and Brett, both intense guys. Saw a fairly recent interview with Nettles. Dude was super cool, plus he remembered everything. Interviewer made some mistakes, missing up 77 with 78 sometimes and things like that. Nettles corrected him without correcting him. I.e., in his answer he'd subtley add in the date so the viewer knew but never called out the Interviewer for their mistake. Super analytical guy even in his 70s and far nicer/more polite than I imagined. Brett, on the other hand, I hear is not as nice.
"I'm 6'6'/250 he's 6'/205 I got on shin guards and a chest protector, with a bat in one hand and a mask in the other. What we you going to do to me, George?"
Awesome analysis. It was already fascinating, but even more so with the added detail. Love how Nettles plotted it with Martin. He probably was still peeved at Brett for the fight the two had a few years earlier. That was a rivalry!
Appreciate this back-story! IF I ever knew it, it was forgotten over the years. Amazing the lengths the Yankees went to for a single W! Of course they were in the thick of it when this went down.
Given the distraction it turned out to be and that they then lost 13 of 22 leading up to the resumption of the game, I think you’ll find several players from that team who’ll tell you that in the end they’d have been better off accepting the defeat.
The Yankees were a hot mess in those days. There were discipline problems all over the place. It was a real shit show. After they lost the 1981 WS to the Dodgers, they did not reach the WS again until 1996. If it were not for the 1986 Mets, NY baseball in the 1980's would have been a very dark time.
I just remember a double header in 77, I had box seats, between the Royals and the Yankees. Thurman Munson was catching. Some nut had his naked kid, holding him up at the fence behind Munson, trying to distract the pitcher. It was insane. That's my memory of the Royals vs Yankees. I think Billy Martin was a baseball genius, but I sympathize with Brett. It was a legit home run.
George Brett was OUT based on the rules of the game at the time the incident occurred and the ruling on the field should not have been changed. The AL President's intervention of overturning the call was strictly political and aimed at George Steinbrenner (Yankees Owner).
I was at the game and had moved down to sit in field level box seats in the 6th ining behind the Yankees dougout. B illy Martin was all smiles after the favorable ruling as he walked into the yankee dugout. The cameras failed to pick up on this. What is really amazing is that I was a Mets fan and had only attended a few Yankee games up until then.
The Yankees used a bullpen car at the time because NYC was a lot different at that time. The fans might have thrown things from the stands at the players.
I was working in the Bronx then. As a Mets fan, though. On the day of the replay. I think it was lunchtime. I walked to the stadium and in the front there were people. But at the back the bleacher seats were free. The turnstiles just unmanned. Those were the separate seats beyond the outfield. Not the grandstand. I think it might have just been benches. It was like me and maybe 25 other people there. I remember the delay. With not a clue what was causing it. I didn't find out until now. Really nice weather. One big huge guy near me was stuffing his face with food even though it was going to be only 4 outs. The whole thing was still really quick, and then I walked back to work.
40 years ago today, this infamous game and moment occurred at Yankee Stadium. To those of you who were alive in 1983, what was your reaction to the incident?
As kids, my fiends and I reenacted this incident for fun several times, lol...if only they had social media and smart phones at the time so we could've recorded ourselves
I'd like to see the video of Jimmy Piersall after hitting his 100th home run and ran the bases backwards. (new rule afterwards "you can't run the bases backwards ".)
I remember that game well. I didn't know it was Nettles who pointed it out to Billy, but you are right, Billy waited until he needed it then played the trump card beautifully. The president of the league nullifying the original ruling was BS. Just because you don't like a rule or think it's outdated doesn't matter. Don't like the rule? Change the rule. But until it's changed it has to be enforced. Billy was the best manager I ever saw. He managed my team, the Tigers for a couple years and nursed a division title out of a team that was a mix of great players past their prime and a bunch of other guys who were okay. I put Earl Weaver in the same class, managers who made a real difference. As for George Brett, I always thought he was a great player. I didn't even remember anything about hemorrhoids. What I remember was a gamer who came closer to hitting .400 than anyone in my lifetime and a guy who used to kill my club. Great ballplayer, lots of fire. Maybe they should have let George and Billy settle it in a cage match. That would have been something to watch. RIP Billy, you were one of the all-time greats.
I remeber when I was a kid (im a Yankees fan) I remeber watching this game live and I was happy the Yankees won and I didn’t get why Brett got so mad. Now I do
The rule didn’t have much to do with hitting the ball long distances. I believe it was introduced the 1950s as a way to prevent bats from discoloring the balls with the pine tar after they’d been hit. MLB was going through too many balls, replacing a ball each time it got pine tar on it.
Not mentioned that when the game was restarted, Martin had Ron Guidry in center, Don Mattingly at 2nd, In mid-September 1980 Brett flirted with .400 BA, this happened BEFORE the '80 Series medical issues.
...one thing you didn't mention regarding the Yankees and more specifically Billy Martin's disdain at continuing the game being so great he played basically everyone out of position in the field to continue the mockery of the whole episode; one example being Ron Guidry in left field if memory serves me..
You didnt mention that the yankees put fielders in the wrong positions when play resumed, like ron guidry in centerfield and mattingly (a lefty) at second base
Have we all not, at one time or another, snapped and charged someone in power as though we were a raving lunatic, driven completely crazy by an atrocity?
Yankees fan born about 4 years after the fact… Never hated George Brett cause I really never saw him play… call the Yankees petty all you want Brett broke the rules (stupid rule anyways)… but Martin employed a fantastic strategy… it’s good they overturned and upheld the protest cause it was a stupid rule like I said… But Brett was well within his rights to be steaming mad like that…
One other fact. Thurman Munson had a 2 RBI single in 1975 that was taken away because of pine tar on his bat. The Yanks lost the game and did not protest the game.
I was watching the game when it occurred at home live when I was a kid. I also watched the resumed game live. The whole game is on You Tube. This year later this month is the 50th anniversary of the game. Yankees were right and the out call should have stood because that is what the rule stated.
All of this over a dumb rule in which it's purpose was purely for financial reasons. I have to say, it was pretty petty of Billy Martin. In hindsight, it didn't even matter. It was doing whatever you could to try and steal a win.
@@michaelleroy9281 Ironically on the day of the pine tar game, Kansas City was 1 game behind the White Sox and and Rangers. The Tigers were half a game behind Toronto and Baltimore. While Baltimore won the division by 6 games over the Tigers, who were in it until the final 2 weeks, the White Sox won the division by 20 games over the Royals.
Everyone who saw it was really surprised how Mr Cool George Brett really lost it. It was a weasel move by Billy “The drunk” Martin but if it worked it was good.
I was at the pine tar game. The only game in baseball history where they changed the rules during the game. Whether you agreed with the rule or not it was the rule.
I'm old school. If it's a rule and is enforced then uphold it. It makes no difference why the rule was originally implemented, it was implemented. If this was the case then the rule should have been abolished prior to this. In fact go through the rule book and abolish any rule that would be outdated.
The pettiness level of that Yankees team was rather high
It was the brain child of Billy Martin. He was rather slick especially the way he screwed with Reggie Jackson when he did not allow him to hit 4th in the lineup for quite some time.
That was all Billy. Who else would of thought of that? Boy was George pissed. I watched that live lol.
Yeah, we shouldn’t depend on rules being followed to interfere with FairPlay
When I was a kid, for years all I was ever shown was Brett running from the dugout, but I never knew why until a few years ago. This was a great explanation, especially of the Yankees even trying to use the court system to stall the replay of the game. I didn't know about that.
To this day I’ve never seen a madder human being in my life than George Brett was in that moment. Period.
💯
He’s the reason I wore #5. I remember it like it was yesterday.
I remember watching this game. I was 13 then and lived about 10 miles from Yankee Stadium. When George Brett came charging out of the dugout, I was glad that I wasn't there. Despite being a Yankees fan, I couldn't help but wonder: how does pine tar make a difference? When Brett fouled off Gossage's pitch prior to hitting the home run, I thought, "Goose, he's thinking home run; don't give him one he likes." I said "Uh oh!" before Frank Messer said it. I never thought I'd be watching baseball's most historical games and incidents.
Replace 10 miles away with 4 miles away and I could be writing your answer, lol as we were same age and my reaction to it was just like yours. Gossage was almost unhittable in his prime, but Brett had his number kinda like how Altuve always homered off Chapman.
**CORRECTION**
Greg Nettles played at third base, not first base as mentioned.
------------
Hey Sports Historians! What did you think about the pine tar game? And what about the Yankees trying to prevent the game from being resumed? Let me know!
The rule book says "Excessive pine tar requires the bat to be removed from the game" THAT'S IT. Nothing about taking runs off the board. The 6.06 rule you refer to is only for a player who steps out of the batter's box to hit the ball. I.E. he's being intentionally walked. A team waits for the batter to finish as Brett did at their own peril. McClellan REALLY blew this call.
@@stephaniegormley9982 McClelland was mind fk'ed by Billy fk'ng Martin! So was George Brett. That was a brilliant piece of managing out of the box as Martin buffaloed the entire officiating crew.
These teams hated each other so it makes this call much much sweeter if you're a NYY fan. Didn't stick,but the fact Brett and the Royals were so incredibly upset is a satisfying AF win all it's own.
Speaking of Graig Nettles at 3rd,there's a play where Brett slid into Nettles hard and Nettles kicked him while he was down! Brett immediately went ape sht and a brawl ensued! Nettles commented later on something about kicking a pile of sht being normal hahahaha! Man I miss those gladiator days of sports.
@imarriedabrkfsttaco3737 Nettles and Brett, both intense guys. Saw a fairly recent interview with Nettles. Dude was super cool, plus he remembered everything. Interviewer made some mistakes, missing up 77 with 78 sometimes and things like that. Nettles corrected him without correcting him. I.e., in his answer he'd subtley add in the date so the viewer knew but never called out the Interviewer for their mistake. Super analytical guy even in his 70s and far nicer/more polite than I imagined. Brett, on the other hand, I hear is not as nice.
@imarriedabrkfsttaco3737 one of the best managers in MLB history but a very flawed individual
I’m 50 now and wasn’t a baseball fan then (more, hockey), but remember this as it was beyond huge news. It drew me into the game.
Stick with this bro! These videos are great and this channel is going to blow up!!! This one was awesome
Thanks man! Appreciate the support and I’m working on new videos as we speak :)
Graig Nettles played 3rd base
If I get to bat over .300 for my MLB career, spanning 21 years, call me the Hemorrhoid Guy!
Great info! Thanks. One thing I remember is that Don Mattingly (a lefty) played 2nd base when the game resumed. Kinda cool!
I seem to remember Guidry playing center field.
"I'm 6'6'/250 he's 6'/205 I got on shin guards and a chest protector, with a bat in one hand and a mask in the other. What we you going to do to me, George?"
Awesome analysis. It was already fascinating, but even more so with the added detail. Love how Nettles plotted it with Martin. He probably was still peeved at Brett for the fight the two had a few years earlier. That was a rivalry!
I just found this channel, keep up the great work.
Thank you, appreciate it!! Sorry for the late comment :)
I remember that game....Brett looked like a crazed madman running out of the dug out. Never forgot that image.
One of the greatest moments in royals history.
Thanks 🙏
It definitely was!
I wouldn't mind being called the hemorrhoid guy as long as I belong to National Baseball Hall of Fame and I have a World Series ring.
LOL, yeah, and just think he was 6 hits away from hitting .400.
I love everything about that moment in time.
Appreciate this back-story! IF I ever knew it, it was forgotten over the years. Amazing the lengths the Yankees went to for a single W! Of course they were in the thick of it when this went down.
Given the distraction it turned out to be and that they then lost 13 of 22 leading up to the resumption of the game, I think you’ll find several players from that team who’ll tell you that in the end they’d have been better off accepting the defeat.
Seems like Billy Martin griped about EVERYTHING to win a call. This is no exception whatsoever.
The Yankees were a hot mess in those days. There were discipline problems all over the place. It was a real shit show. After they lost the 1981 WS to the Dodgers, they did not reach the WS again until 1996. If it were not for the 1986 Mets, NY baseball in the 1980's would have been a very dark time.
@@badgerden7080 Steinbrenner was even banned from the game from 1990-1993
Great video. Subscribed.
Glad you liked it, thanks for the sub!!
Np
Great video. I love this history and wanted to know more. You have earned yourself a another sub
Thanks for the sub, appreciate it!!
This is an awesome video 😆
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it!
The wildest thing about this video to me: the royals had a TIE this year? I thought ties ended in like the 30s after stadiums started getting lights
i saw it live as a kid, it is unbelievable how influential it was to me growing up. sounds weird to say that.
I just remember a double header in 77, I had box seats, between the Royals and the Yankees. Thurman Munson was catching. Some nut had his naked kid, holding him up at the fence behind Munson, trying to distract the pitcher. It was insane. That's my memory of the Royals vs Yankees. I think Billy Martin was a baseball genius, but I sympathize with Brett. It was a legit home run.
Lol that’s a crazy story! Was this at Yankee stadium or at Kauffman?
George Brett was OUT based on the rules of the game at the time the incident occurred and the ruling on the field should not have been changed. The AL President's intervention of overturning the call was strictly political and aimed at George Steinbrenner (Yankees Owner).
One of the best moments in baseball, but why Brett saying "bluesheet?" Lol
Yeah guys. Thats called being "martinized" -To be pressed and cleaned using the Martinizing process-
Great videos 👍
Thanks!!
I was at the game and had moved down to sit in field level box seats in the 6th ining behind the Yankees dougout. B illy Martin was all smiles after the favorable ruling as he walked into the yankee dugout. The cameras failed to pick up on this. What is really amazing is that I was a Mets fan and had only attended a few Yankee games up until then.
I'd rather be known as one of Baseballs All-Time greatest hitters,, oh wait,, he is.. Great Vid, such wonderful detail. 😁⚾️👌🏼
Excelent video, you gain a subscriber
Thanks for the sub! Glad you liked the video :)
The Yankees used a bullpen car at the time because NYC was a lot different at that time. The fans might have thrown things from the stands at the players.
Came here from a TikTok video highlighting this moment. Thank you for an informative video!
Thanks for stopping by, glad you enjoyed it!
Very enjoyable
Glad you enjoyed it!
I saw the game that day I thought Brett was going to kill McClelland
6 foot 6 and 250 pounds, not likley.
Well done, you’ve earned another subscriber
Thanks for the sub! Much appreciated!
Good vid deserves more credit. Earned yourself a sub!
Thanks for the sub! Really appreciate it!
@@AllSportsHistory no problem keep up the good work
I was working in the Bronx then. As a Mets fan, though. On the day of the replay. I think it was lunchtime. I walked to the stadium and in the front there were people. But at the back the bleacher seats were free. The turnstiles just unmanned. Those were the separate seats beyond the outfield. Not the grandstand. I think it might have just been benches. It was like me and maybe 25 other people there.
I remember the delay. With not a clue what was causing it. I didn't find out until now. Really nice weather. One big huge guy near me was stuffing his face with food even though it was going to be only 4 outs. The whole thing was still really quick, and then I walked back to work.
You can still see today that Brett hit the ball with the upper part of the bat where there was no tar.
I was at that game. Nobody knew what was going on for a while
40 years ago today, this infamous game and moment occurred at Yankee Stadium. To those of you who were alive in 1983, what was your reaction to the incident?
Thanks for the highlight of the 40th anniversary of this incident! Also, I wasn't even born in that time yet.
The 2 teams still had bad feelings toward each other from their ALCS meetings in 1976 1977 1978 and 1980
As kids, my fiends and I reenacted this incident for fun several times, lol...if only they had social media and smart phones at the time so we could've recorded ourselves
I'd like to see the video of Jimmy Piersall after hitting his 100th home run and ran the bases backwards. (new rule afterwards "you can't run the bases backwards ".)
Brett says he doesn’t remember anything once he sprinted out of the dugout. He speaks of that incident sheepishly
I remember that game well. I didn't know it was Nettles who pointed it out to Billy, but you are right, Billy waited until he needed it then played the trump card beautifully. The president of the league nullifying the original ruling was BS. Just because you don't like a rule or think it's outdated doesn't matter. Don't like the rule? Change the rule. But until it's changed it has to be enforced. Billy was the best manager I ever saw. He managed my team, the Tigers for a couple years and nursed a division title out of a team that was a mix of great players past their prime and a bunch of other guys who were okay. I put Earl Weaver in the same class, managers who made a real difference. As for George Brett, I always thought he was a great player. I didn't even remember anything about hemorrhoids. What I remember was a gamer who came closer to hitting .400 than anyone in my lifetime and a guy who used to kill my club. Great ballplayer, lots of fire. Maybe they should have let George and Billy settle it in a cage match. That would have been something to watch. RIP Billy, you were one of the all-time greats.
I'm not a baseball guy, but this was very well made so you got a like and sub from me.
Thank you for the sub!!
This channel... A1.
Thank you, appreciate that!
Make a what happened to the Winnipeg Jets or Atlanta Flames
Yeah, Those are ones on my future list.
I remeber when I was a kid (im a Yankees fan) I remeber watching this game live and I was happy the Yankees won and I didn’t get why Brett got so mad. Now I do
Why I still hate the Yankees to this day
I mean, the Yankees running away from a game they were losing anyway sounds like just another day in baseball.
Waiting until after a home run was hit was exactly the wrong time time bring up the rule
Why wasn’t Brett called out? Nettles still had the ball in his glove when they started fighting and Brett wasn’t on the base
Brett was out and the game was over. The rule was still on the books.
I’m still a bit confused. How does having that much pine tar contribute to the flight of the ball?
The rule didn’t have much to do with hitting the ball long distances. I believe it was introduced the 1950s as a way to prevent bats from discoloring the balls with the pine tar after they’d been hit. MLB was going through too many balls, replacing a ball each time it got pine tar on it.
If a baseball game didn't involve a signed, notorized affidavit, was it even a baseball game?
Not mentioned that when the game was restarted, Martin had Ron Guidry in center, Don Mattingly at 2nd, In mid-September 1980 Brett flirted with .400 BA, this
happened BEFORE the '80 Series medical issues.
Yep repositioning was all part of Martin’s “protest” haha.
After 1980 the medical issues were behind him, get it?
Never saw this part
...one thing you didn't mention regarding the Yankees and more specifically Billy Martin's disdain at continuing the game being so great he played basically everyone out of position in the field to continue the mockery of the whole episode; one example being Ron Guidry in left field if memory serves me..
Yeah that’s right he had Guidry play center while Mattingly moved from first to second.
Billy Martin was a drunk..
You didnt mention that the yankees put fielders in the wrong positions when play resumed, like ron guidry in centerfield and mattingly (a lefty) at second base
Imma royals fan. This is funny af 🤣🤣
The Royals were good in the 1980s. I remember Brett, Frank White, John Wathan and Dan Q. Good times.
@@badgerden7080 and in 2014-15
Have we all not, at one time or another, snapped and charged someone in power as though we were a raving lunatic, driven completely crazy by an atrocity?
They make so much money selling tickets even back then and they were worried about keeping cost low like come on
Yankees fan born about 4 years after the fact… Never hated George Brett cause I really never saw him play… call the Yankees petty all you want Brett broke the rules (stupid rule anyways)… but Martin employed a fantastic strategy… it’s good they overturned and upheld the protest cause it was a stupid rule like I said… But Brett was well within his rights to be steaming mad like that…
Greg Nettles was mentioned as the FIRST BASEMAN That’s wrong. He was a THIRD BASEMAN.
Ah my bad, thanks for the catch!
One other fact. Thurman Munson had a 2 RBI single in 1975 that was taken away because of pine tar on his bat. The Yanks lost the game and did not protest the game.
that simply did not happen
@@seamusosullivan6128 Yes it did. I watched it on TV.
I was watching the game when it occurred at home live when I was a kid. I also watched the resumed game live. The whole game is on You Tube. This year later this month is the 50th anniversary of the game. Yankees were right and the out call should have stood because that is what the rule stated.
40th, not 50th.
I think #5 can be traced back to Brooks Robinson.
it was a dumb rule but should have been removed from the rule book after the Munson game.
All of this over a dumb rule in which it's purpose was purely for financial reasons. I have to say, it was pretty petty of Billy Martin. In hindsight, it didn't even matter. It was doing whatever you could to try and steal a win.
Yep it’s win at all costs! Glad they updated the rule afterwards.
Hey, he took a shot; I can't blame him for trying to get an edge.
Both teams were way out their pennant races at this point in the year Baltimore and Chicago were walking away with their divisions
@@michaelleroy9281
Ironically on the day of the pine tar game, Kansas City was 1 game behind the White Sox and and Rangers.
The Tigers were half a game behind Toronto and Baltimore.
While Baltimore won the division by 6 games over the Tigers, who were in it until the final 2 weeks, the White Sox won the division by 20 games over the Royals.
I'd just love to know why he didn't react the same way when his head was almost taken off by whatshisname in the 1980 world series..
The irony is that the one time this rule stuck it was the Yankees that were the victims. You can say they were twice! 😂😂😂
Nobody collects items from the hemorrhoid game
Everyone who saw it was really surprised how Mr Cool George Brett really lost it. It was a weasel move by Billy “The drunk” Martin but if it worked it was good.
He cheated and then got angry....childish. That's how a non baseball fan see's it.
Craig Nettles
Or Greg Nettles?
I was at the pine tar game. The only game in baseball history where they changed the rules during the game. Whether you agreed with the rule or not it was the rule.
Billy Martin was a genius of the game may he rest in peace.
I mean he was out lol
I'm old school. If it's a rule and is enforced then uphold it. It makes no difference why the rule was originally implemented, it was implemented. If this was the case then the rule should have been abolished prior to this. In fact go through the rule book and abolish any rule that would be outdated.
Nettles played 3rd base NOT 1st
See this is why everybody that isn't a yankees fan hates the yankees.
Ugh, “three to four” and “Quin-sen-berry.” That was painful
Some damn pettiness by the Yankees.
Election 2020
Yankees have always been petty.
Embarrassing for Brett, breaking a rule then losing his composure. The "hemorrhoid guy" would have been better.