He Was Pining Away for Loss of Home Run

It was one of baseball’s greatest rhubarbs, George Brett charging out of the Kansas City dugout, bug-eyed with rage, drawing a bead on the home plate umpire.

Five of Brett’s teammates had to pull him off home plate umpire Tim McClelland, who had just called Brett out. You can understand Brett’s fury a bit by knowing he had apparently just hit a ninth-inning home run to give the Royals the lead at Yankee Stadium.

Two weeks before, it had come to the attention of New York Yankee Manager Billy Martin that Brett applied pine tar that stretched halfway up the length of the bat.

Baseball rules limit coverage to 18 inches up the handle. Martin filed this information away, deciding to use it at the most opportune time.

That moment arrived 16 years ago today. Brett had just hit a two-out, two-run homer against Goose Gossage to give the Royals a 5-4 lead.

As Brett circled the bases, Martin calmly walked to home plate with a rule book. He first showed McClelland rule 1.10b, the pine tar rule, then rule 6.08d, which called for any batter using such a bat to be called out.

McClelland conferred with crew chief Joe Brinkman, who agreed with Martin’s interpretation. McClelland turned toward Brett in the dugout, hoisted up his right thumb, and Brett went wild. Martin giggled, because the Yankees had just won the game, 4-3.

Brett, who was batting .357 at the time of the home run, had tears of rage on his cheeks when he talked to reporters afterward.

“I quit,” he said, trembling. “Why go on playing anymore? You quit after you’ve seen everything, right? I’ve seen everything now.”

The ruling later was overturned, the home run counted, and the Royals won the completed game, 5-4.

Also on this date: In 1966, before 34,150 at the Coliseum, San Jose State’s Tommie Smith ran a 43.8 third leg and a U.S. 1,600-meter relay team became the first to break three minutes, running 2:59.6. His teammates: Bob Frey, Lee Evans and Theron Lewis. . . . Also on this date: In 1966, golfer “Champagne Tony” Lema and his wife died in a small-plane crash in Indiana.