The Pine Tar game - July 24, 1983...
If you weren't watching this game on TV or in person as I and 16-year Robert Phillips a.k.a. my son, were, then there is no way you could explain it to anyone, but I'll try. KC's George Brett had done what he always did when facing Goose Gossage - hit a home run. This gave the Royals a 5-4 lead in the 9th inning. After Brett crosses the plate, Yankee manager Billy Martin comes on the field for a pow-wow with the umpires at home plate. Martin points to Brett's bat and home plate umpire Tim McClelland examines it and gives the bat and Brett a thumbs-up gesture which did not indicate a good movie review. It did indicate that Brett was out, his home run erased. What followed next was pure theater...
George Brett came charging out of the KC dugout hoping to aply some pine tar to McClelland's neck with his bare hands. He would have had he not been restrained by his coaches and the other umpires who had to fear for their own lives as well. In all my years of watching games I have never seen a player get thisclose to killing an umpire. The score reverted back to what it was (4-3 Yankees), minus Brett's 2-run home run and the game was completed after the Royals 3rd and final out of the 9th inning or was it ???
Brett's bat had so much pine tar on it that if someone shook a pillow out of one of the Bronx tenement windows surrounding Yankee Stadium, Brett's gender would have been seriously challenged. Not only would his home run have been disallowed, he would've been arrested for impersonating Phyllis Diller. His home run was taken away because the bat handle exceeded the legal amount of pine tar (17") but AL President Lee MacPhail overruled the umpires saying the rule needed to be rewritten and clarified. The home run stands and the game was resumed from that point (5-4 KC with 2 outs in the Royals half of the 9th inning) on August 18th...
The conclusion of the game on August 18th was played in just 12 minutes and was witnessed by 1,245 as in one thousand, two-hundred and forty-five in a cavernous and empty Yankee Stadium. The final score stayed at 5-4 in Kansas City's favor. It was the only game played that day and the game ended as oddly as it left off with lefty Don Mattingly playing second base and pitcher Ron Guidry in center field. Can you imagine Desi asking Lucy to 'splain this game to him ???
Ten Timeline Memories...
1847] Richard M. Hoe patents the rotary-type printing press (and not a minute too soon)...
1956] Following a performance at the Copacabana, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis split up after a partnership that began 10 years earlier on July 25th, 1946. Their 1st appearance as a team was at Atlantic City's infamous 500 Club...
1965] At the age of 75 and nursing a broken hip, Casey Stengel calls it quits as manager of the New York Mets...
1969] The Apollo 11 astronauts (Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins) splash down safely in the Pacific Ocean after their historic walk on the moon...
1974] The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules that Richard Nixon must turn over subpoenaed White House tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor...
1978] The movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" premieres in New York City...
1978] A tearful Billy Martin gives his famous "One is a born liar, the other, a convict" speech. The "Liar" was Reggie Jackson, the "convict" - George Steinbrenner. With that statement made, Billy Martin "retires" as Yankee manager...
1987] "La Bamba", the movie biography of Richie Valens premieres...
1995] Frank Sinatra celebrates his 80th year with 3 nights at Carnegie Hall...
2003] The U.S. releases pictures of Odai and Qusai Hussein to prove that they now sleep with the fishes...
[To ensure the accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the dateline]...
E-mails, we get e-mails. We get lots and lots of e-mails...
Corinne Baldassano, Senior VP, Programming & Marketing of "The Dr. Laura Program" remembers being at the July 21st, 1983 Diana Ross downpour performance at Central Park: "I distinctly remember all of the celebrities scrambling for cover and I think we all dodged under one tent. What I do remember is as I was wringing out the clothes that were still on me, I realized I was standing next to a very drenched Calvin Klein, who did not look terribly fashionable in his rain-soaked garb. I was just glad to get home, turn on the TV and see what was going on that I didn't see first-hand"...
Bob Sherwood who thought he remembered hearing "The Twist" by Hank Ballard prior to it's release in 1960, tracked down the answer to that by going to Tom Noonan, Dave Williams and Barry Salberg (who supplied a music survey from KWBR, circa 1959) for the information. Follow along folks. Tommy who did the Billboard charts from 1954 to 1965, comments: "The Twist" might have been released prior to debuting on the pop chart on 7/18/60 and while it had gotten a lot of R&B airplay, I doubt it happened in 1958 (as Sherwood believed). Hank Ballad's "The Twist" made it to peak position 24 and was on the (pop) chart for 16 weeks". Sherwood noticed on the KWBR music survey, a jock by the name of Big Don Barksdale who was not only a jock but played for the Boston Celtics and became the 1st black player to make the NBA All-Star Game in 1953. Barksdale died in 1993. Thanks for all the good information Bob...
And thanks to an alum of WRKO, Frank Santos for the kind words. Frank, as long as you keep reading - I'll keep writing...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday"...
Kristin Chenoweth (36), Jennifer Lopez (37), Barry Bonds (42), "Wonder Woman" Lynda Carter (55), Michael ("Kramer") Richards (57), Dan Hedaya (66) and Ruth Buzzi (70)...
"Happy Trails"...
Character actor Jack Warden who had been suffering from medical problems, at 85. Warden appeared in "Shampoo", "Heaven Can Wait", "Brian's Song" and "Twelve Angry Men" and had a prolific TV career in the 60's...
Timeline Countown: 43 days until Labor Day, 47 days until the NFL kickoff, 72 days until the MLB playoffs and 160 days left in 2006...
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