Indians pitcher Bob Feller threw the second no-hitter of his career on April 30, 1946. He struck out eleven batters (and allowed five walks) as the Indians defeated the Yankees, 1-0. Feller said of the game, “The no-hitter on opening day in Chicago is the one that gets all the attention. But my no-hitter at Yankee Stadium was against a much better team than the White Sox. There was no comparison. I had to pitch to Tommy Henrich, Charlie Keller and Joe DiMaggio in the ninth inning to get the Yankees out.” The lone run in the game came on a home run by Frankie Hayes.
Mickey Mantle hit his 500th career home run on Mother’s Day, May 14, 1967. In doing so, Mantle fulfilled a promise made to his wife, Merlyn, regarding the timing of the blast. The round trip was hit into the lower deck of the right field corner of the lower deck at Yankee Stadium and made Mantle the sixth player in Major League history to reach the milestone.
On August 17, 1948, one day after Babe Ruth’s death, Yankee Tommy Henrich launched his fourth grand slam for the season, thus tying one of Ruth’s records. Ruth’s body, which was on display at Yankee Stadium, received visits from approximately 100,000 fans. The Great Bambino was buried at the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York two days later.
On Sunday, May 17, 1998 at Yankee Stadium, New York defeated the Minnesota Twins 4-0 as David Wells retired every batter he faced. The game took approximately two hours and forty minutes and was played in front of almost 50,000 fans. It was just the 13th perfect game pitched in modern Major League history.
Unlike the modern tradition of naming ballparks after corporate sponsors (e.g. Busch Stadium, Safeco Field, U.S. Cellular Field, etc.), in 1959, San Francisco held a Name-the-Park contest to rename what was then called Bay View Stadium. On March 3rd, the winning entry was announced: Candlestick Park. The name served to describe the shape of the rocks found in the area known as Candlestick Point.
In a game against the Angels on May 22, 1962, Yankees slugger Roger Maris set a Major League record by drawing four intentional walks. Each walk was granted to Maris by a different Angels pitcher as the Yankees won 2-1 in twelve innings at Yankee Stadium.
I can’t say I blame the Angels. This was, after all, the season immediately following Maris’s success in breaking Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record.
“Obviously I disagreed with the call, so I calmly went out there to question them.” – George Brett
The famous Pine Tar incident, July 24, 1983 at Yankee Stadium. The video does a sufficient job of showcasing and explaining the event itself, so I won’t waste your time by reiterating it here.
But what is pine tar? Of what use is it to a baseball player?
Pine tar is a sticky material derived from the roots and stump of pine trees. When it was first created in Sweden, ropes and wooden ships were coated with it for the sake of waterproofing and preservation. When used on a baseball bat, pine tar creates a texture that makes it easier to grip the bat and prevents it from slipping from the player’s hands in the hot, humid weather. It also allows a hitter to get more “pop” out of the bat without having to utilize a death grip on the handle. But does it really give a batter an advantage when it comes to hitting a baseball? According to former American League President Lee MacPhail: no, it doesn’t.
In 1983, according to Official Playing Rule 6.06(a), “a batter is out for illegal action when he hits an illegally batted ball.” And according to Rule 1.10(b), a bat “treated with any material [including pine tar] … which extends past the 18 inch limitation … shall cause the bat to be removed from the game.” It was by combining these two rules that the umpires decided to rule the play an out.
In the case of George Brett, MacPhail overrode the call because the rule had more to do with economics than with any potential competitive advantage. As he states in the video, “Pine tar didn’t help that ball that Brett hit go out of the ballpark.” However, if pine tar gets on a baseball, it renders the ball unfit for continued use in a Major League game. MacPhail argued that while the ruling was “technically defensible, [it] is not in accord with the intent or spirit of the rules. […] The rules provide instead that the bat be removed from the game. The protest of the Kansas City Club is therefore upheld and the home run by Brett is therefore permitted to stand.” The rule has since been revised in the spirit of this interpretation and clearly states today that since no objection was made to Brett’s use of the bat prior to his hitting the home run, the play stood.
Rule 1.10(c) Comment: If pine tar extends past the 18-inch limitation, then the umpire, on his own initiative or if alerted by the opposing team, shall order the batter to use a different bat. The batter may use the bat later in the game only if the excess substance is removed. If no objections are raised prior to a bat’s use, then a violation of Rule 1.10(c) on that play does not nullify any action or play on the field and no protests of such play shall be allowed.
The image of George Brett charging out of the dugout, arms flailing, is one that no doubt will stand the test of time. As New York’s Don Mattingly described it, “The sight of George coming out of the dugout is etched in my mind forever. That roar symbolizes the way he plays the game, the kind of fire he has.” Makes me wish I could have been there to see it in person.
