George Brett and the pine tar incident

[chuck]

Is that a rule with no purpose? I can't imagine that pine tar would increase the ball's flight off the barrel of the bat. Seems so inconsequential, unless I'm missing something.

It was useless. Just a generic rule that no foreign substance could go more than, I think, 18" from the handle. I'm not sure what they were guarding against other than maybe gobs of pine tar sticking to the ball.

People forget that the MLB commish actually overturned the ruling, based on similar reasoning that it was meant to save balls. The HR counted and they finished the game later in the year picking up after the HR was hit, with the Royal's winning. The yankees tried to appeal every base and the umpires had a signed statement from the crew of the original game that Brett had touched every base. The Yanks protested the game, but the result stood.

I actually remember that well now that you reminded me.

 

[El_K]

I think they had Mattingly play 2nd base and Guidry played CF for the remake game.

 

[PurpleThrobber]

I am not a material physicist, but it has to do with altering the bat. I seem to remember that there was an argument made that pine tar hardens as it ages, and could impact performance of the bat, (coefficient of restitution) which is essentially the bat's reaction to contacting the ball. Super-slo-mo at contact shows the barrel bend back, and then spring forward, throwing the ball off the barrel, if you will. The old coaches I had called it the "trampoline effect"...

Guys used to "groove" the handles, taking material away to make the bat more end-heavy, giving it more whip, and increasing C.O.R. Not as well-known as corking, but legal...

Old-school clubhouses would have a large soup bone mounted on the wall, and guysm would work the barrel over it to tighten the grain, hardening the bat. All of that shit went out the window with the decline of ash, and emergence of maple, which is what everyone uses now...

It's common knowledge that rubbing the wood makes it harder.

The throbber learned that in 6th grade after he quit playing baseball.