As George Brett sprinted maniacally towards head umpire Tim McClelland on July 24, 1983, Mickey Cobb sat up in the trainer’s room at old Yankee Stadium, watching the incident on TV.
He was busy applying ice to Bud Black’s shoulder. Back had just finished pitching six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits to put the visiting Kansas City Royals down 4-3 against the New York Yankees.
On the small TV, Cobb watched as second base umpire Joe Brinkman held Brett back as he screamed in the face of McClelland.
The game was, of course, the infamous Pine Tar Game, in which George Brett hit a final out go-ahead home run against the Yankees, before protests about the amount of pine tar on his bat resulted in the home run being deemed invalid by McClelland.