On July 4, 1983, Kansas City Royals’ third baseman George Brett was ejected from a game in which he hit a home run, because the umpire determined, at the behest of New York Yankee manager Billy Martin, that Brett had applied pine tar too high up the bat, in violation of rule 1.10(b), which says that it may be on the first 18 inches of the bat, but no higher. When Tim McClelland threw Brett out of the game, he exploded out of the dugout in a fiery rage, which became legendary in the annals of the sport.
The questions that emerged from that incident typically looked like these:
- What rule did Brett break, and why was that rule even in place?