Famous baseball play...?

Question

Who was involved in that famous, humorous, and oft-replayed incident where guys leaps up from the dugout and charges at the umpire in comical fashion?

Answer 1

George Brett in the famous pine-tar incident. I think that's what you're referring to. He had hit a home run but he was ruled out because he had too much pine tar on his bat.

the dumbest rule ever.

Answer 2

That was the famous "Pine Tar Incident" from 1983, I believe. It was the Kansas City Royals visiting the New York Yankees. In the late innings, 7th or 8th I think, George Brett hit a go ahead home run. The Yankee manager at the time was the infamous Billy Martin. Martin was known for being a true student of the game, knowing every trick and every obscure rule. After the home run was hit, Martin attempted to invoke the "Pine Tar" rule which stated that pine tar could only be spread 18 inches up the handle of the bat. Home plate itself is 18 inches wide, that's why you see them lay the bat against home plate to measure the tar. The umpire, not being sure of the invocation of the rule himself, felt he had no choice but to call the batter (Brett) out. That is when the famous clip you are talking about happened. Brett charged out of the dugout like a madman, eyes bugged and tobacco juice flying hell bent on killing the ump. (Who I think was Harry Wendelstatt).

The game was finished and the Yankees won. But the Royals played the rest of the game under protest, meaning that after the game, the rule would be reviewed further before the results became official.

Well, here's the thing. The "Pine Tar Rule" was made back in the 10s and the 20s when players played alot more "small ball". What they would do is put pine tar over the whole bat so that when the bunted, the ball would be deadened and not roll as far. That's why the 18 inch rule came to be.

The other important factor is when Martin tried to invoke the rule. He did it after the batter had a successful at bat. But what the rule stated, and Wendelstatt was confused about, was that the opposing manager had to challenge after the batter was announced but before he had completed his at bat. Martin knew it was an obscure rule and he knew exactly what he was doing.

The end result

After the game, the Royals challenge was heard by the league office. The office agreed with the Royals that Martin had to challenge the legality of the bat BEFORE Brett hit the home run, not after. If Martin had been really smart, he could have challenged the bat before Brett saw a pitch, he would have been called out and the Yankees would have been out of the inning. Instead, the game was to be picked up from the point immediately after the home run. A few months later the last 2 innings of the game were played before the regularly scheduled Royal-Yankee game. The Royals hung on to win.

Answer 3

I must disagree with some of the information presented by David E. The protest by the Royals had nothing to do with the timing of Martin's complaint. The Royals claimed (incorrectly) that Brett had been called out for tampering with his bat in order to change the reaction of the ball off the bat. It was their contention that, since pine tar DOESN'T change the reaction of the ball, that the rule didn't apply and Brett shouldn't have been called out. The Commissioner (or AL President, I forget which), who happened to be in attendance that day, agreed with the Royals and upheld the protest.

The umpires had never applied that rule, however. They strung several rules together, ruling that: 1) the bat didn't conform to the rules which limit the amount of pine tar that can be used, 2) that it was therefore, by rule, an illegal bat, 3) Brett's homerun was therefore an illegally batted ball, and 4) the homerun should be nullified and Brett declared out. The rules allow this ruling to be made FOLLOWING the at bat, as no illegally batted ball has occurred until then.

This play happened with two outs in the top of the ninth, so Brett being ruled out ended the game (before the appeal was upheld). When the game was resumed a few months later, Brett, and at least on other person were ejected for their antics following the original ruling, and the game was resumed. Mr. Martin then had his pitcher throw to first, where an appeal was made that Brett had missed the base and should be called out. As the umpires who had called the original game weren't there, Martin had hoped to create a reason to protest the game himself. This move had been anticipated, however, and the umpire-in-chief produced an afadavit from the original umpires, stating that Brett and both baserunners had touched all bases, and the runs should all be counted.

Answer 4

The Pine Tar Incident

The baseball bat used by George Brett in the Pine Tar Incident on July 24, 1983.Brett had injuries on-and-off for the next four years, during which occurred the most notable event in his career, the notorious "Pine Tar Incident". On July 24, 1983, the Royals were playing the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. In the top of the ninth inning, Brett came up to bat against Goose Gossage, his old rival. Brett hit a two-run homer to put the Royals up 5-4. After Brett rounded the bases, Yankees manager Billy Martin calmly walked out of the dugout and used home plate to measure the amount of pine tar, a legal substance used by hitters to improve their grip, on Brett's bat. Martin cited an obscure rule that stated the pine tar on a bat could extend no further than 18 inches. Brett's pine tar extended about 24 inches. Earlier in the season, the Yankees had noted Brett's habit of adding pine tar further than the allowed 18 inches, but waited until a crucial time to point it out to the umpires.

"I've never seen this," said sportscaster and ex-Yankee Bobby Murcer on WPIX as he watched McClelland measure the bat across the plate. "I never have either," said Murcer's partner, Frank Messer. A few moments later, the home plate umpire, Tim McClelland, signaled Brett out.

The normally mild-mannered Brett charged out of the dugout, enraged, and was immediately ejected. An incredulous Messer:

“ Look at this!...He is out, and having to be forcibly restrained from hitting plate umpire Tim McClelland. And the Yankees have won the ball game 4 to 3! ”

Years later, Brett explained his outburst by saying "It was just such an extraordinary thing to hit a homer off [Gossage], the thought of losing it was too much". In the same interview he also humorously chided his teammate Hal McRae (who was on deck) for not removing the bat from home plate before Billy Martin could have it inspected. "If Hal had [taken the bat], then I'd only be known for hemorrhoids," Brett quipped.[3]

The Royals protested the game, and their protest was upheld by AL president (and former Yankees chief executive) Lee MacPhail, who ruled that the bat was not "altered to improve the distance factor," and that the rules only provided for removal of the bat from the game, and not calling the batter out.

The game was continued later that season, starting after Brett's homer. Billy Martin had one last trick up his sleeve, appealing the play in saying the umpires had no way of knowing Brett and the other runner had touched all the bases. Martin was stunned when the umpires produced affidavits saying they had. The game had virtually no effect on 1983's pennant race, but was in many ways the closing chapter on a heated rivalry. The Pine Tar Game has become part of baseball folklore, with Brett's famous bat on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Answer 5

The infamous Pine Tar incident. George Brett. Yankees vs Royals.

Answer 6

The Pine Tar Incident (also known as the Pine Tar Game) refers to a controversial incident that took place in an American League baseball game played between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees on July 24, 1983.
Playing at New York's Yankee Stadium, the Royals were trailing 4-3 with two outs in the top of the ninth and U. L. Washington on first base. In the on deck circle, George Brett was heard remarking to a teammate, "Watch this baby fly" as he shook his bat. He then came to the plate and connected off Yankee reliever Rich Gossage for a two-run home run and a 5-4 lead. As Brett crossed the plate, New York manager Billy Martin approached home plate umpire Tim McClelland and requested that Brett's bat be examined. Earlier in the season, Martin and other members (most notably, third baseman Graig Nettles, who as a member of the Minnesota Twins, recalled a similar incident involving Thurman Munson) of the Yankees had noticed the amount of pine tar used by Brett, but Martin had chosen not to say anything until the home run.
With Brett watching from the dugout, McClelland and the rest of the umpiring crew inspected the bat. Measuring the bat against the width of home plate (which is 17 inches), they determined that the amount of pine tar on the bat's handle exceeded that allowed by Rule 1.10(b) of the Major League Baseball rule book, which read that "a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches from the tip of the handle."
McClelland signaled that Brett's home run was nullified and the game over. An enraged Brett stormed out of the dugout to confront McClelland, and had to be physically restrained by his teammates. (As one commentator stated, "Brett has become the first player in history to hit a game-losing home run.") Despite the furious protests of Brett and Kansas City manager Dick Howser, McClelland's ruling stood. The Royals protested the game ("TAR WARS!" blared a New York Post headline), and their protest was upheld by American League president Lee MacPhail. MacPhail (who coincidentally had once been the Yankees' chief executive) ruled that the bat was not "altered to improve the distance factor", and that the rules only provided for removal of the bat from the game, not calling the batter out. Baseball writer Bill James concurred, saying that, unlike other sports, "in baseball, when you hit a double, that's a double."

On August 18 (a scheduled off day for both teams), the game was resumed from the point of Brett's home run, with about 1,200 fans in attendance. Martin symbolically protested the continuation of the game by putting pitcher Ron Guidry in center field and first baseman Don Mattingly at second base. Mattingly, a lefty, became the majors' first southpaw second baseman since Oakland's Gonzalo Marques [1] a decade earlier; there has been one only lefty middle infielder in a big-league game since (Thad Bosley, in 1987 [2]).
Before the first pitch to Hal McRae (who followed Brett in the lineup), Martin challenged Brett's home run on the grounds that Brett had not touched all the bases, and maintained that there was no way for the umpires (a different crew than the one who worked July 24) to dispute this. But umpire Davey Phillips was ready for Martin, producing an affidavit signed by the July 24 umpires stating that Brett had indeed touched all the bases. An irate Martin continued to argue with the umpires and was ejected from the game. Yankees reliever George Frazier struck McRae out to finally end the top of the ninth, twenty-five days after it had begun. Dan Quisenberry then got New York out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the Royals' 5-4 win.
Brett continued to use the bat which had caused the controversy until he broke it in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers in August 1983. He loaned it to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987.

Answer 7

Dave, the umpire was
Tim McClelland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_McClelland

Answer 8

Bad call, not the answers, Brett is correct.

Answer 9

Dumbest RULING ever.