Editorial Content for The Pine Tar Game: The Kansas City Royals, the New York Yankees, and Baseball's Most Absurd and Entertaining Controversy
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Filip Bondy, the veteran sports columnist for the New York Daily News, has done yeoman’s work in assembling this thoroughly researched volume on one of the weirdest games in Major League history.
The “Pine Tar Game” took place just over 30 years ago --- July 24, 1983 --- between the Kansas City Royals and the host New York Yankees. Future Hall of Famer George Brett hit a two-run homer off future Hall of Famer Goose Gossage in the top of the ninth to give the Royals a 5-4 lead.
Or did he?
Some eagle-eyed Yankees noticed that Brett’s bat had an unusual amount of pine tar --- a sticky substance used to give a better grip --- which they quickly pointed out to the umpires. As their job is to uphold the letter (if not the spirit) of the rules, the arbiters of the diamond discounted the potential game-winner, leading to a legendary wild-eyed Brett charging out of the dugout and needing to be restrained.
"Filip Bondy, the veteran sports columnist for the New York Daily News, has done yeoman’s work in assembling this thoroughly researched volume on one of the weirdest games in Major League history."
Bondy goes beyond the mere facts of the game. In fact, the contest itself doesn’t make an appearance until page 127. It’s preceded by deep background about the perennial success of the Yankees prior to the mid-1960s; the almost symbiotic (and ethically questionable) relationship between the Yankees and Kansas City Athletics, who moved to Oakland after the 1967 season, thus leaving K.C. without a big league presence; the birth of the expansion Royals to fill that void in 1969; etc.
THE PINE TAR GAME is just as much about the diversity of big city vs. small town culture as anything else. The personality of the owners --- George Steinbrenner in New York, Ewing Kauffman in Kansas City --- explains a lot when it comes to team philosophy. We also learn a lot about the two main protagonists, Brett and Gossage, and how they were raised in different familial environments: Gossage’s nurturing, Brett’s more antagonistic with a father who had more confidence in his brother, Ken, who made it to the Majors as well but without anywhere near George’s success.
The chapters following the event itself --- the Yankees protested the game, which had been suspended after the umpires’ decision, with the Royals still leading 5-4 --- deal with the behind-the-scenes machinations and headaches in trying to solve the problem, at which point THE PINE TAR GAME begins to take the form of a courtroom drama.
The game finally came to a conclusion on August 18th. By that time, the teams’ fortunes had changed, along with much of the personnel.
After all the ruckus to find a mutually acceptable date, the game took less than 10 minutes to complete once play resumed in the top of the ninth with the same outcome, begging the question: Was this trip really necessary?
THE PINE TAR GAME demands much patience; there’s a lot of lead-up before the payoff. Readers will have to decide if the wait is worth it.
Teaser
On July 24, 1983, during the finale of a heated four-game series between the dynastic New York Yankees and small-town Kansas City Royals, umpires nullified a go-ahead home run based on an obscure rule, when Yankees manager Billy Martin pointed out an illegal amount of pine tar on Royals third baseman George Brett’s bat. The call temporarily cost the Royals the game, but the decision was eventually overturned, resulting in a resumption of the game several weeks later that created its own hysteria. THE PINE TAR GAME chronicles this watershed moment.
Promo
On July 24, 1983, during the finale of a heated four-game series between the dynastic New York Yankees and small-town Kansas City Royals, umpires nullified a go-ahead home run based on an obscure rule, when Yankees manager Billy Martin pointed out an illegal amount of pine tar on Royals third baseman George Brett’s bat. The call temporarily cost the Royals the game, but the decision was eventually overturned, resulting in a resumption of the game several weeks later that created its own hysteria. THE PINE TAR GAME chronicles this watershed moment.
About the Book
The New York Times bestseller --- “a rollicking account” (The Kansas City Star) of the infamous baseball game between the Yankees and Royals in which a game-winning home run was overturned and set off one of sports history’s most absurd and entertaining controversies.
On July 24, 1983, during the finale of a heated four-game series between the dynastic New York Yankees and small-town Kansas City Royals, umpires nullified a go-ahead home run based on an obscure rule, when Yankees manager Billy Martin pointed out an illegal amount of pine tar --- the sticky substance used for a better grip --- on Royals third baseman George Brett’s bat. Brett wildly charged out of the dugout and chaos ensued. The call temporarily cost the Royals the game, but the decision was eventually overturned, resulting in a resumption of the game several weeks later that created its own hysteria. The game was a watershed moment, marking a change in the sport, where benign cheating tactics like spitballs, Superball bats and a couple extra inches of tar on an ash bat, gave way to era of soaring salaries, labor strikes and rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs.
In THE PINE TAR GAME acclaimed sports writer Filip Bondy paints a portrait of the Yankees and Royals of that era, replete with bad actors, phenomenal athletes and plenty of yelling. Players and club officials, like Brett, Goose Gossage, Willie Randolph, Ron Guidry, Sparky Lyle, David Cone and John Schuerholz, offer fresh commentary on the events and their take on the subsequent postseason rivalry. “A sticky moment milked for all its nutty, head-shaking glory” (Sports Illustrated), THE PINE TAR GAME examines a more innocent time in professional sports, and the shifting tide that resulted in today’s modern iteration of baseball.
Some watchers of the Royals’ 2015 World Series win over New York’s “other baseball team,” the Mets, may see it as sweet revenge for a bygone era of talent flow and umpire calls favoring New York.
