In 1955, team owners were in a bind…they were losing too much money on baseballs that were stained and smudged with the pine tar being used on bats.
To combat that loss, baseball implemented a rule…MLB Rule 1.10(c). It was a simple one really. Basically, you can treat your bat with anything to help “improve the grip”. But here’s the catch. That material cannot extend past 18 inches. If it does…the hit is deemed “illegal” and the batter called out.
On July 24, 1983 the “Pine Tar Rule” received national attention when Kansas City Royals great George Brett hit a go ahead two-run home run off New York Yankees closer Goose Gossage.
And then…mayhem.
Former big league infielder Greg Pryor was there, had a locker next to Brett and witnessed the aftermath of the “Pine Tar Incident” firsthand.
[protected-iframe id=”29e7411a3baacd8f801a25f2b8951574-142507471-16925393″ info=”//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/6845010/height/90/theme/custom/autoplay/yes/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/backward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/87A93A/” width=”100%” height=”90″ style=”border: none;” scrolling=”no”]To listen to the entire interview, CLICK HERE.
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