THE PINE TAR GAME: A SUPER QUICK HISTORY // George Brett and The Pine Tar Incident Documentary

In this All Sports History video we'll look back at one of the most famous baseball games ever, "The Pine Tar Game".
Here's what this "George Brett Pine Tar Game" video covers:
In one of the most infamous moments in baseball history, on July 24, 1983 George Brett of the Kansas City Royals and Billy Martin of the New York Yankees were instrumental parts of a controversial call involving the amount of pine tar on a bat. Today we’ll look back at the game, and how the Yankees tired everything they could to prevent the game from being resumed.
What did you think about George Brett's outrage over the pine tar call? And what about the Yankees doing whatever they could to avoid having the pine tar game resumed? Let me know in the comments below!
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THE PINE TAR GAME: A SUPER QUICK HISTORY // George Brett and The Pine Tar Incident Documentary

[@andrewtaylor995]

The pettiness level of that Yankees team was rather high

[@beemerdon]

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.

[@user-co7fb6qe5w]

That was all Billy. Who else would of thought of that? Boy was George pissed. I watched that live lol.

[@grizztough4091]

Yeah, we shouldn’t depend on rules being followed to interfere with FairPlay

[@evanacey1414]

To this day I’ve never seen a madder human being in my life than George Brett was in that moment. Period.

[@The_Omegaman]

💯

[@georgeenke4937]

He’s the reason I wore #5. I remember it like it was yesterday.

[@glamgal7106]

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.

[@rickyricardo4331]

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.

[@stevenmakustak4513]

Who is the REAL Evil Empire ??

[@KitByPre]

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.

[@charlesantill5838]

If I get to bat over .300 for my MLB career, spanning 21 years, call me the Hemorrhoid Guy!

[@domxem5551]

You can still see today that Brett hit the ball with the upper part of the bat where there was no tar.

[@davidklumpenhower9474]

Great info! Thanks. One thing I remember is that Don Mattingly (a lefty) played 2nd base when the game resumed. Kinda cool!

[@josephdudajek1282]

I seem to remember Guidry playing center field.

[@AllSportsHistory]

**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!

[@stephaniegormley9982]

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.

[@imarriedabrkfsttaco3737]

@@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.

[@imarriedabrkfsttaco3737]

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.

[@albertowen1025]

Seems like Billy Martin griped about EVERYTHING to win a call. This is no exception whatsoever.

[@badgerden7080]

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.

[@michaelleroy9281]

@@badgerden7080 Steinbrenner was even banned from the game from 1990-1993

[@michaelleroy9281]

I saw the game that day I thought Brett was going to kill McClelland

[@badgerden7080]

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.

[@dallasbrubaker6054]

LOL, yeah, and just think he was 6 hits away from hitting .400.

[@nickpapalazarou4874]

I remember that game....Brett looked like a crazed madman running out of the dug out. Never forgot that image.

[@sempergumby3872]

Stick with this bro! These videos are great and this channel is going to blow up!!! This one was awesome

[@AllSportsHistory]

Thanks man! Appreciate the support and I’m working on new videos as we speak :)

[@emt5330]

Graig Nettles played 3rd base

[@ryangilmoreisoffline]

i saw it live as a kid, it is unbelievable how influential it was to me growing up. sounds weird to say that.

[@beemerdon]

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.

[@toddolatheks.1328]

One of the greatest moments in royals history. Thanks 🙏

[@AllSportsHistory]

It definitely was!

[@williamm374]

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.

[@AllSportsHistory]

Lol that’s a crazy story! Was this at Yankee stadium or at Kauffman?

[@geeskin5750]

One of the best moments in baseball, but why Brett saying "bluesheet?" Lol

[@emt5330]

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.

[@rhstpchld]

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.

[@user-co7fb6qe5w]

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 ".)

[@takinglifebythelens]

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.

[@dzanier]

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.

[@jamesgeorge65]

I love everything about that moment in time.

[@manuelramos3588]

I'd rather be known as one of Baseballs All-Time greatest hitters,, oh wait,, he is.. Great Vid, such wonderful detail. 😁⚾️👌🏼

[@cmiamt2007]

Came here from a TikTok video highlighting this moment. Thank you for an informative video!

[@AllSportsHistory]

Thanks for stopping by, glad you enjoyed it!

[@tdfowler79]

I just found this channel, keep up the great work.

[@AllSportsHistory]

Thank you, appreciate it!! Sorry for the late comment :)

[@thomascaroli1010]

I was at that game. Nobody knew what was going on for a while

[@v3easy433]

Great video. Subscribed.

[@AllSportsHistory]

Glad you liked it, thanks for the sub!!

[@v3easy433]

Np

[@adoptedchineseboy]

This is an awesome video 😆

[@AllSportsHistory]

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@intsoccersuperstar1]

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

[@raygordonteacheschess5501]

"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?"

[@rolfbernserke4735]

Brett says he doesn’t remember anything once he sprinted out of the dugout. He speaks of that incident sheepishly

[@noob-vv3dd]

Great video. I love this history and wanted to know more. You have earned yourself a another sub

[@AllSportsHistory]

Thanks for the sub, appreciate it!!

[@Ziggy405]

Great videos 👍

[@AllSportsHistory]

Thanks!!

[@RickW0071]

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

[@jerlee620]

Well done, you’ve earned another subscriber

[@AllSportsHistory]

Thanks for the sub! Much appreciated!

[@brianmccormick3837]

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?

[@CrystalClearWith8BE]

Thanks for the highlight of the 40th anniversary of this incident! Also, I wasn't even born in that time yet.

[@juniorfibroso]

Excelent video, you gain a subscriber

[@AllSportsHistory]

Thanks for the sub! Glad you liked the video :)

[@Samuraiuni]

Good vid deserves more credit. Earned yourself a sub!

[@AllSportsHistory]

Thanks for the sub! Really appreciate it!

[@Samuraiuni]

@@AllSportsHistory no problem keep up the good work

[@itinerantpatriot1196]

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.

[@redsocks771]

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).

[@Jimpix57]

Very enjoyable

[@AllSportsHistory]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@karlnewton5736]

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

[@conorgilles81]

If a baseball game didn't involve a signed, notorized affidavit, was it even a baseball game?

[@anthonybaratta6152]

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…

[@dannydonuts4219]

Waiting until after a home run was hit was exactly the wrong time time bring up the rule

[@rmalmeida1976]

Some damn pettiness by the Yankees.

[@tryhardfinessedyou]

This channel... A1.

[@AllSportsHistory]

Thank you, appreciate that!

[@noblinkreal]

Make a what happened to the Winnipeg Jets or Atlanta Flames

[@AllSportsHistory]

Yeah, Those are ones on my future list.

[@dannyb8504]

They make so much money selling tickets even back then and they were worried about keeping cost low like come on

[@geoffa87]

I mean, the Yankees running away from a game they were losing anyway sounds like just another day in baseball.

[@EvilJester119]

Greg Nettles was mentioned as the FIRST BASEMAN That’s wrong. He was a THIRD BASEMAN.

[@AllSportsHistory]

Ah my bad, thanks for the catch!

[@wiedep]

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.

[@AllSportsHistory]

Yep repositioning was all part of Martin’s “protest” haha.

[@michaelleroy9281]

After 1980 the medical issues were behind him, get it?

[@cr2594]

Never saw this part

[@user-co7fb6qe5w]

I think #5 can be traced back to Brooks Robinson.

[@raygordonteacheschess5501]

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?

[@timwindling436]

Is it just me or is there a high pitch noise that keeps going off every couple seconds? Painful.

[@AllSportsHistory]

It’s not you, this is an older video where I used my old mic that didn’t sound great. My newer mic is much better 😁

[@aaronbirtig]

...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..

[@AllSportsHistory]

Yeah that’s right he had Guidry play center while Mattingly moved from first to second.

[@beemerdon]

Billy Martin was a drunk..

[@Libertarian_Biker]

Why I still hate the Yankees to this day

[@johnwesleyhuss2327]

Imma royals fan. This is funny af 🤣🤣

[@badgerden7080]

The Royals were good in the 1980s. I remember Brett, Frank White, John Wathan and Dan Q. Good times.

[@johnwesleyhuss2327]

@@badgerden7080 and in 2014-15

[@jme6141994]

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.

[@seamusosullivan6128]

that simply did not happen

[@jamesedwards3784]

@@seamusosullivan6128 Yes it did. I watched it on TV.

[@jonbryden3307]

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.

[@randyrudd5594]

40th, not 50th.

[@michaelcrockette3881]

it was a dumb rule but should have been removed from the rule book after the Munson game.

[@imapaine-diaz4451]

Yeah guys. Thats called being "martinized" -To be pressed and cleaned using the Martinizing process-

[@loviepittsburgh2222]

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.

[@AllSportsHistory]

Yep it’s win at all costs! Glad they updated the rule afterwards.

[@dallasbrubaker6054]

Hey, he took a shot; I can't blame him for trying to get an edge.

[@michaelleroy9281]

Both teams were way out their pennant races at this point in the year Baltimore and Chicago were walking away with their divisions

[@dallasbrubaker6054]

​@@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.

[@DestroVega]

I mean he was out lol

[@timothyconner4255]

Craig Nettles

[@AllSportsHistory]

Or Greg Nettles?

[@DoubleStar92]

The irony is that the one time this rule stuck it was the Yankees that were the victims. You can say they were twice! 😂😂😂

[@jimmywrangles]

He cheated and then got angry....childish. That's how a non baseball fan see's it.

[@jme6141994]

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.

[@reneadinaro8183]

Billy Martin was a genius of the game may he rest in peace.

[@dallasbrubaker6054]

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.

[@davidthompson62]

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.

[@anthonygenovese7578]

See this is why everybody that isn't a yankees fan hates the yankees.

[@leedevereaux7644]

Ugh, “three to four” and “Quin-sen-berry.” That was painful

[@wildcat4837]

Election 2020

[@big_lolo_01]

Yankees have always been petty.

[@jduncanm3golf]

Embarrassing for Brett, breaking a rule then losing his composure. The "hemorrhoid guy" would have been better.