The Royals had one of the best giveaways of the season over the weekend. Kansas City hosted the Yankees for a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium, and they handed out George Brett pine tar bats to the first 20,000 fans in the stadium on Saturday.
The promotion was a reference to the infamous “Pine Tar Game” on July 24, 1983. Brett, a Hall of Fame player for the Royals, homered off Goose Gossage to give KC a 5-4 lead over the Yankees in the 9th inning. The Yankees appealed to the umpire to examine the bat and it was determined Brett had pine tar more than 18 inches from the knob. Brett was called out for using an illegal bat, and he burst out of the dugout fuming with rage. The call was later overturned on an appeal, and the Royals won when it was completed the next month.
The play was one of the most notable moments in MLB history, and the Royals played off it well. I’m just surprised they distributed all those mini bats; I thought teams didn’t do that anymore because of safety concerns over drunk people and kids using them as weapons.
H/T Darren Rovell
Photo Credit: Joe Rybnick
