Prior to every home game, Padres manager Bud Black speaks to reporters. Usually, the questions are routine and the discussion centers around who is in the lineup for the game, pitching matchups, and updates on any possible injuries. On occasion though, Black opens up and shares a piece of baseball history. Such was the case on Monday afternoon as the Padres prepared for a rare interleague matchup against the Kansas City Royals.

Setting the Stage

Each decade, baseball provides memorable moments. The George Brett pine tar incident on July 24, 1983 stands out as one of the most memorable of the 1980s.On that day, Black was the starting pitcher for the Royals who were facing the New York Yankees in Yankee stadium.

The Royals were down 4-3 with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. Brett then hit a two-run home run to right field off of Yankees closer Goose Gossage, who would help lead the Padres to their first World Series the following year. The home run gave the Royals a 5-4 lead.

Noticing Brett’s bat had pine tar up high on the barrel, Yankees manager Billy Martin asked the umpires to examine the bat and cited a rule that stated that any foreign substance on a bat could not extend further than 18 inches from the knob.

“The only reason for that is (pine tar) was spoiling a lot of balls,” said Lee MacPhail on an MLB video documenting the incident. MacPhail was the American League President at the time.

Home plate umpire Tim McClelland examined the bat and conferred with the other umpires.

“If they call me out for using too much pine tar, I will kill one of them SOBs,” Brett told a teammate as the umpires discussed the issue. “As soon as I said SOB, Tim McClelland who stands 6’6” and weighs 250 pounds is looking for me in the dugout. ‘There you are, you’re out!’”

Game over, Yankees win 4-3.

Brett came storming out of the dugout and had to be physically restrained from punching McClelland. The feud went on for several minutes.

Black Picks up the Story

“After George hit the homer, we got the bat and we knew the bat was going to be investigated,” Black said. “McClelland had the bat and gave it to a bat boy. While all the argument was going on Gaylord Perry got the bat from the bat boy. He shuffled it off to Leon Roberts, who ran it up into the clubhouse and buried it in with (the other) bats. So, the umpires came into the clubhouse looking for the bat. It was pretty fun to see an umpire in a clubhouse. You don’t ever see it, it doesn’t happen. They were trying to find the bat, it was like hide-and-go-seek.”

Eventually the bat was turned over to the umpires. The bat now resides in the Royals Hall of Fame.

A few days later MacPhail ruled that the pine tar did not impact the home run and overruled McClelland. “I think it was ruled properly in the spirit of the game,” Black said. “The pine tar had nothing to do with the outcome of that game.”

Starting from where Brett hit the homerun, the last four outs of the ninth inning were played on August 18, three weeks later.

“That was the weird part, to go back in on an off day on our way to Baltimore and go play four outs,” Black said.

The Royals flew into New York but only about half of their players on the roster on that day were still eligible to play in the game. “There were like ten guys who stayed on the plane and got (drunk),” Black said. “George didn’t even go to the park.”

It was Black’s scheduled day to throw on the side so he and about dozen other Royals disembarked the plane.

“The game resumed at 1 p.m. and we got there at like noon. We got dressed and went out to play catch and took the field. There were like only 500 people in Yankee Stadium. It was the damnest thing you have ever seen, because usually at Yankee Stadium there is an energy, there is a buzz to it. There was nobody there. It was a ghost town. It was weird.”

The Yankees also had a limited number of players eligible to play. Don Mattingly, who typically played the outfield played first base and pitcher Ron Guidry, played the outfield for the final out of the top of the ninth.

Quickly the Yankees recorded the third out.

Dan Quisenberry then came on for the save for the Royals. “He was nervous as hell, because he knew he was going to pitch in advance,” Black said. “Usually as a closer you don’t know when you are going to pitch. He knew for three weeks he was going to pitch that game.”

Quisenberry recorded the three outs and earned the save. The new final score saw the Royals winning 5-4.

“We were on the field for like eight minutes and it was over,” Black said. “That was quite a day!”