July 24, 1983: The Pine Tar Game

July 24, 1983, 40 years ago: The New York Yankees host the Kansas City Royals at the original Yankee Stadium in The Bronx. This is not a crazy game for the 1st 8 innings. But in the 9th, as Phil Rizzuto, who broadcast this game for the Yankees, would say, "Holy cow!"

The Royals score a run in the top of the 2nd. Dave Winfield ties it for the Yankees in the bottom half with a home run. The Royals make it 2-1 in the 4th, and 3-1 in the 6th. But the Yankees make it 4-3 in the bottom of the 6th.

With 2 outs in the top of the 9th, U L Washington (that's how his name is written, no periods) singles, and George Brett takes Yankee reliever Rich "Goose" Gossage deep, to make it 5-4 Royals.

Brett is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He finished his career with a lifetime batting average of .305. He is a member of the 3,000 Hits Club. He is the only man to winning batting titles in 3 different decades: In 1976, 1980 and 1990. He was named to 13 All-Star Games. He helped the Royals reach the postseason 6 times in 10 seasons from 1976 to 1985, including their 1st Pennant in 1980 and their 1st World Series win in 1985. The franchise began play in 1969, and did not reach the postseason without him on their roster until 2014.

Moreover, he hit 317 home runs in regular season play, and another 10 in the postseason. And it sure seemed like a lot of them were against the Yankees. Kauffman Stadium, known as Royals Stadium while he played there, had long-distance power alleys and artificial turf, making it conducive to doubles (of which he hit 665, 7th all-time, and 4th in the Expansion Era) and triples (137, 70th, but 3rd among Expansion Era players), but not home runs. So he enjoyed hitting them at Yankee Stadium, with its "short porch" in right field: At the time, listed at 310 feet to the pole and 353 to straightaway right.

In the deciding Game 5 of the 1976 American League Championship Series, he hit a 3-run home run to tie the game in the top of the 8th inning. In Game 3 of the 1978 ALCS, he hit 3 home runs, the 1st time it had been done in either League's Championship Series, and still 1 of only 5. Both times, the Yankees won the game, anyway. That would not be the case in Game 3 of the 1980 ALCS, when his upper-deck blast off Gossage was the exclamation point on a Royals sweep of the Yankees, avenging their losses of 1976, '77 and '78.

So on this nice Sunday Summer afternoon in The Bronx, Brett has hit a go-ahead homer for the Royals, and it looks like he's beaten the Yankees again.

But Yankee manager Billy Martin, so often unhinged, comes out to talk to the umpires. This time, Billy is in full control. He points out that Brett has pine tar on his bat, surpassing the legal limit.

The umpires measure it, discover that Martin is right, and Brett is called out, restoring the 4-3 Yankee lead and ending the game. Brett has a fit, and has to be held back by his teammates, but there's nothing he can do.

His team files an appeal. Despite being a former Yankee general manager (and the son of another), AL President Lee MacPhail does something no League President had ever done before, or has since: He overrules his umpires.

Unofficially, we have since seen, many times, that the baseball establishment considers it okay to cheat if you do it against the Yankees. This may be the only time when it's actually been made official.

MacPhail rules that the game must be resumed, with 2 outs in the top of the 9th, and the Royals leading 5-4. An open date for both teams is found, August 18, and the game is resumed. Although an angry Yankee owner George Steinbrenner decided to let anybody with a ticket to the original version of the game into Yankee Stadium free of charge, since Yankee Fans have been screwed over by this as much as their team has, only about 1,200 people take him up on the offer.

Billy, a master of spite, decides that the game is already a farce, so he decides to deepen the point. He puts pitcher Ron Guidry in center field, and 1st baseman Don Mattingly at 2nd base -- making Mattingly one of the very few lefthanded-fielding 2nd basemen ever.

When plate umpire Tim McClelland, a rookie who will umpire in the AL until the combining of the umpiring crews in 2000, and then in the combined crews until 2015, yells, "Play ball!" to restart the game, Billy is prepared to act: He calls time out, and appeals at each base, suggesting that the runners hadn't touched them, and should be called out on that basis. But McClelland is prepared for Martin's preparation: He has a notarized affidavit signed by all the umpires from the original game -- also including Drew Coble, Joe Brinkman and Nick Bremigan -- stating that all bases had been touched by both runners.

Brett was not in the game, either, because his ejection from the game was allowed to stand. Which makes no sense: In a real court of law, any crime committed by someone in response to a false charge gets thrown out. If Brett's action was legal, then his ejection should have been rescinded; if his ejection was allowed to stand, then so should the ruling on the violation, and the Yankees should have been declared the winners. At any rate, Brett did not even show up for the resumption, instead going on to Baltimore, the Royals' next stop.

George Frazier strikes Hal McRae out to end the top of the 9th. Dan Quisenberry pitches the bottom of the 9th for the Royals. He gets Mattingly to fly to center, Roy Smalley to fly to left, and Oscar Gamble to ground to 2nd.

The game did have meaning in the standings when it began: The Yankees were only 2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East on July 24, while the Royals were 1 game behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West. As it turned out, though, none of those 4 teams won their Division: The Baltimore Orioles won the East, and the Chicago White Sox won the West, with the Orioles winning the Pennant, and then beating the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.

The Yankees ended up winning 91 games, finishing 7 games behind the Orioles. It was a 12-game improvement over the season before. Steinbrenner fired Martin from his 3rd tenure as manager, anyway.

Living Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame as of February 17, 2012

For this list, effective yesterday with the death of Gary Carter, I am counting all players, managers, executives (including owners) and broadcasters who were with a team for a significant period of time.

Many, as you'll see, qualify under more than one team. Players are listed by chronological order of when they arrived, followed by managers, executives and broadcasters (in each case, unless they can also be listed as players). Ties in the rankings will be broken by who had more players, as opposed to players + men in other categories, then by more non-broadcasters.

1. Baltimore Orioles, 10: Brooks Robinson, Luis Aparicio, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken, Roberto Alomar, Earl Weaver (manager), Lee MacPhail (executive), Jon Miller (broadcaster). Rafael Palmeiro is now eligible, but he's never getting in.

2. St. Louis Cardinals, 9: Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst (player and manager), Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Steve Carlton, Orlando Cepeda, Ozzie Smith, Bruce Sutter, Whitey Herzog (manager and executive). Mark McGwire probably won't be added here, either.

3. New York Yankees, 7: Yogi Berra (player and manager), Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage, Dave Winfield, Wade Boggs, Lee MacPhail (executive). No, despite their HOF-awarded broadcasting careers, you can't count Jerry Coleman or Tony Kubek. I thought about counting Rickey Henderson, but decided against it. Joe Torre is not yet eligible.

4. Cincinnati Reds, 7: Frank Robinson, Tony Perez, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan. Tom Seaver, Barry Larkin, Marty Brennaman (broadcaster). This total, of course, does not include Pete Rose.

5. San Francisco Giants, 7: Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Lon Simmons and Jon Miller (broadcasters). All of the Giants' San Francisco HOFers are still alive as of May 17, 2011. Mays and Monte Irvin would qualify for the New York edition of the Giants, and Irvin is the only living HOFer who would qualify for a Negro League team (the Newark Eagles).

6. Boston Red Sox, 6: Bobby Doerr, Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice, Dennis Eckersley, Wade Boggs. (EDIT: I had the late Dick Williams included here, and for the A's -- but, oddly, not for the Padres, whom he managed to their first Pennant.)

7. Chicago Cubs, 6: Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ferguson Jenkins, Bruce Sutter, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson. Ron Santo finally got in, but, alas, not during his lifetime.

8. San Diego Padres, 5: Dave Winfield, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Tony Gwynn, Jerry Coleman (broadcaster). Hard to believe the Padres are ahead of the Dodgers on this list, but if Duke Snider were still alive, as he was a year ago, the Dodgers would still be ahead.

9. Oakland Athletics, 5: Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, Rickey Henderson, Dennis Eckersley, Lon Simmons (broadcaster). Don't expect Mark McGwire to be added anytime soon. And, if the A's do move, as now appears likely, their total will be returned to zero.

10. Los Angeles Dodgers, 5: Sandy Koufax, Don Sutton, Tommy Lasorda (manager), Vin Scully and Jamie Jarrin (broadcasters). With the death of Duke Snider, there are no more living players elected as Brooklyn Dodgers, although Koufax and Lasorda did pitch for them in Brooklyn, and Scully started his broadcasting career there.

11. Philadelphia Phillies, 4: Jim Bunning, Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, Pat Gillick (executive). This list will probably one day include Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Roy Halladay – but, of course, they've got to be retired for 5 full seasons first.

12. Houston Astros, 4: Joe Morgan, Nolan Ryan, Gene Elston & Milo Hamilton (broadcasters). Jeff Bagwell became eligible this year, and Craig Biggio becomes eligible in 2013; they may end up getting elected together.

13. New York Mets, 4: Tom Seaver, Yogi Berra (manager), Ralph Kiner and the newly-elected Tim McCarver (broadcasters). So the Mets have the same number, despite losing Carter. No, you can't count Willie Mays. Or Rickey Henderson. John Franco is eligible, and Mike Piazza becomes eligible in 2013.

14. Anaheim Angels, 3: Nolan Ryan, Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew.

15. Chicago White Sox, 3: Luis Aparicio, Goose Gossage, Carlton Fisk. Frank Thomas is not yet eligible.

16. Pittsburgh Pirates, 3: Ralph Kiner, Bill Mazeroski, Bert Blyleven.

17. Toronto Blue Jays, 3: Roberto Alomar, Paul Molitor, Pat Gillick (executive). Including Molitor was close, but they wouldn't have won that '93 World Series without him. However, considering they were there for only 1 season, even if they were World Championship seasons, you can't count Dave Winfield ('92) or Rickey Henderson ('93).

18. Atlanta Braves, 3: Hank Aaron, Phil Niekro, Milo Hamilton (broadcaster). This number will grow once Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and (possibly) Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones become eligible. Aaron and Red Schoendienst would qualify for the Milwaukee Braves.

19. Milwaukee Brewers, 3: Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Rollie Fingers, Bob Uecker (broadcaster).

20. Kansas City Royals, 3: George Brett, Whitey Herzog (manager), Denny Matthews (broadcaster).

21. Texas Rangers, 2: Ferguson Jenkins, Nolan Ryan. Rafael Palmeiro is now eligible, but he's never getting in. No, you can't count Gaylord Perry.

22. Detroit Tigers, 2: Jim Bunning, Al Kaline.

23. Minnesota Twins, 2: Rod Carew, Bert Blyleven. Broadcaster Bob Wolff is the only living person who qualifies for their previous incarnation, the "original Washington Senators."

24. Florida Marlins, 2: Felo Ramirez and Dave Van Horne (broadcasters). Carter had also broadcast for the Marlins. No, you can't count Andre Dawson, although he is from Miami.

25. Cleveland Indians, 1: Roberto Alomar. When Bob Feller died late last year, it left one of baseball's oldest franchises without a living HOFer, until Alomar was elected earlier this year.

26. Seattle Mariners, 1: Pat Gillick (executive). Randy Johnson will probably beat out Ken Griffey Jr. as their first player in the Hall, unless the voters really shift in favor of Edgar Martinez. Lou Piniella could get elected as a manager by the Veterans' Committee (in which case the Reds could also claim him, and maybe the Yankees, but not the Rays or Cubs).

27. Arizona Diamondbacks, none. Randy Johnson will probably be the first, barring steroid evidence.

28. Tampa Bay Rays, none. No, you can't count Wade Boggs.

29. Colorado Rockies, none. Unless Andres Galarraga or Larry Walker somehow get in, the number will remain at zero for a long time to come. The still-active Todd Helton may not make it, either. But Charlie Jones, who was their first radio announcer, won the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Pete Rozelle Award for broadcasting.

30. Washington Nationals, none. No, you can't count their first manager, Frank Robinson. Nor can you count the Montreal Expos' HOFers with them: Andre Dawson, Dave Van Horne (broadcaster), or the recently deceased Gary Carter and broadcaster Duke Snider.