By Mike Whiteman July 28, 2024 On this day in 1983, American League president Lee McPhail overruled the umpires on the July 24th, 1983 Yankees-Royals game in which George Brett's ninth inning home run off Rich Gossage was nullified due to an excessive amount of pine tar on his bat. The image of a raging Brett is one of the most recognizable in the recent history of the sport. The Yankees went to the clubhouse that day thinking they had won 4-3.
No so fast, said the Royals and they protested the game.
After McPhail's verdict, the contest was resumed on August 18th from the point of Brett's home run. It was a bizarre ten-minute spectacle in front of a crowd of about 1200 attendees, with pitcher Ron Guidry in center field in place of the traded Jerry Mumphrey, and left handed throwing Don Mattingly at second base. After Kansas City's Hal McRae was retired ending the top of the ninth, the Yanks went down in order in the bottom half of the frame.
Royals win, 5-4.
https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-24-1983-the-pine-tar-game/
Quick Stats: The Yankees are 61-45, one game behind Baltimore in the American League East. Aaron Judge had four hits, including his MLB-leading 37th home run. He also leads all of baseball with 95 RBI. He reached base six times. Big Story: What a game! The Yankees opened the contest with three runs in the top of the first, on the strength of back-to-back home runs by Juan Soto and Judge. Unfortunately, Boston tied it right back up in the bottom of the inning. After Oswaldo Cabrera's homer in the second, the Sox tacked on two more. After the Yanks tied it in the fifth on Judge's RBI single, Tyler O'Neill immediately homered and took the lead back. Ben Rice tied it again with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. The Red Sox again responded and took back the lead with two more runs. In the eighth, Aaron Judge doubled in Alex Verdugo , but on the same play Soto ran through a stop sign by the third base coach and was thrown out at home, and it wasn't close. It was feeling like one of those games in which the Yanks would ultimately come up just short. Then the Yanks summoned some magic from earlier in the season. In the top of the ninth, Rice doubled off of Bosox closer Kenley Jansen and was replaced by pinch runner Jahmai Jones. Down to his (and the team's) last strike, Trent Grisham doubled in Jones, and again the game was tied.
This time, Clay Holmes threw a dominant 1-2-3 ninth and onto the tenth we went. There, the Yanks took the lead on an Austin Wells sacrifice fly, and broke it open a bit when Gleyber Torres ripped a two-run double. Holmes held Boston scoreless for another inning and the Yankees, after three and a half hours and thirteen pitching changes between both teams had one of their more exciting wins of the season. Yankees 11, Red Sox 8. Notable Performances: On June 5th, Austin Wells was hitless in three at bats and his batting average dropped to .190. Since that time, he has slashed .293/.416/.573 while holding his own behind the plate...Verdugo had three hits and scored three runs in the leadoff spot...Rice had been mired in a brutal (four hits in 50 at bats) slump since his three home run game of July 6th, but had some good at-bats last night...Tommy Kahnle and Tim Hill both had scoreless outings out of the bullpen...Cabrera made nice plays at third base in both the ninth and tenth innings, denying the Sox crucial baserunners. Better to Forget: Marcus Stroman didn't have it last night, allowing nine hits in three plus innings. They Said It: "We're fighting for our lives right now" - Aaron Boone on the Yanks effort. My Take: Boy, the Yanks showed some of the things we haven't seen for awhile - resilience, fight, fire, clutch hitting. Combine this with the addition of Jazz Chisholm Jr. - not a great but good pickup - and reports that Brian Cashman is aggressively seeking other upgrades, and things feel a little bit better today than they did yesterday. Next Up: A series win against the Red Sox would be a wonderful thing! A Yankee win and Baltimore loss would put the Yanks back in first place! Carlos Rodon (10-7, 4.42) hopes to build on his great effort in his last start against Tanner Houck (8-6, 2.71). Game time 7:10. This game is televised in ESPN.
it appears that the Cubs are going to get Paredes.
IF i am understanding the return correctly, YES YES and YES we should have been all over Paredes
when they traded Arozarena for 2 players OUTSIDE of Seattles top 10, I speculated Paredes could NOT cost more than that
but others have been very certain that Paredes would require multiple MLB ready players
well it appears the Cubs did recently move #29 prospect up to MLB
Hunter Bigge was the Cubs #29 prospect but he has made 4 MLB starts and has a 2.7 ERA. Bigge and if i see it correctly, 2 unranked prospects will be the return for Paredes
I guess to me the closest we could come…
i see multiple stories this morning that the Yankees are still attempting to get India. i like that a LOT. the more I look at Chisholm, I see he has mostly batted leadoff this year. he should NOT!!! if we put him there it is a mistake. Verdugo has begun to show good results batting leadoff
but Chisholm bats over .330 with RISP
he has good power- maybe very similar to Gleyber, except the short porch is pull side for him. yesterday, I said I would bat him somewhere 6-9, but at least vs RHP we could do worse than batting him cleanup
he does not really give us much help with the problem hitting vs LHP
but it does…
The umpires in the Pine Tar Game got it right, and MacPhail contorted the rule to achieve the result he wanted, which was to stick it to Steinbrenner (whom he hated) and the Yankees.
I went to the August 18 resumption (festival seating, and I was in the lower deck just past home plate). I should also have gone to Shea that evening to see what turned out to be the final concert by The Police (with R.E.M. as one of the opening acts). It was a summer of missed events -- I skipped the July 4 no-hitter by Rags because I'd procrastinated (shockingly) on my final paper for a summer class I was taking.
Make a trade, play a game like it was May, what's not to like ?
in regard to Jazz Chisholm and upgrades.......
imagine now a Yankee infield of
Jazz at 3B
Volpe at SS
Gleyber at 2B
Rice at 1B
&
Wells at catcher
that's an athletic, young collection with Torres the eldest at 27
it also features a good lefty/righty balance
with the switch-hitting, 25 year old Cabrera in reserve