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So the 25th anniversary of George Brett’s infamous pine-tar bat incident came and went with a ton of discussion. I don’t really want to spend a lot of time talking about the incident since you’ve all seen it a million times. And I also don’t want to talk about the physics or logistics of hitting a ball with pine tar further up on the bat than usual and whether that would help you hit a ball further or hinder you from doing so. What I want to talk about is the blind acceptance of rules and the use of those rules to gain some kind of moral high ground.
Here’s the thing, the rule was put in place in 1957 to save money for the owners who were tired of players wasting pine tar (which is apparently expensive in 1957) and baseballs in batting practice (because the pine tar dirties up the balls). This rule had nothing to do with distance or cheating, it was a bureaucratic piece of garbage that existed to save money. It wasn’t protecting the integrity of the game, it was protecting the wallets of the owners.
So when the first instinct of people who defend the ump’s decision is to take the side of law and order, it drives me up a wall. This wasn’t law and order. This was a manger finding a way to cheat another man out of a well deserved home run. The only reason this even occurred is because that paranoid son of a bitch, Billy Martin, brought the bat to the ump’s attention. He wasn’t interested in protecting the sanctity of the game, he was interested in winning, even if it meant relying on a rule that had no relevance to the game (even when it was first instituted). So this wouldn’t even have been up for discussion if Martin hadn’t made it an issue. That’s how the law works. That’s how baseball works.
You know what’s technically against the law? Driving even 1 MPH over the speed limit. Should you get a ticket for that technicality? Fuck no. And I love how Billy Martin, of all people, has the balls to accuse someone else of breaking the rules. That sumbitch cheated and fought and kicked more than any other baseball player of his time in order to compensate for his lack of physical skill.
What a miserable prick.
Filed under: Divisive Arguments, Uncategorized
Rules are rules. Brett is a cheater.
And it wasn’t a technicality. The pine tar was clearly over 1/4″ of the allowed amount.
Brett handled it with such class and quiet dignity… really reminded me of Princess Diana.
Hef..If I drive 56 and the cop pulls me over to give me a ticket…should I just tell him it’s a technicality? The rule sucks. But it is not to be enforced? Could pragmatism have taken over here? Sure…but umpires are not paid to be pragmatic, they are paid to adhere to the rules. So to blame Billy MArtin and the umpire is silly. The rule is silly.
I’m pretty sure that this post was inspired by Amare and Diaw being suspended for that playoff game. Fuckin’ games and their “rules”, man.
You can at least take solace in the fact that the Royals protested the out, whch led MLB to uphold the homer and have the two teams replay the rest of the game.