Soccer team reenacts George Brett’s pine tar incident at Yankee Stadium
While Yankee Stadium awaits the return of its summer long tenants, it will occasionally play host to football, hockey and even professional soccer. On Saturday, the schedule called for a Major League Soccer matchup between the home-standing NYCFC squad — which is actually co-owned by the New York Yankees — and Sporting Kansas City.
The game itself was exciting we’re sure — Sporting Kansas City won it 1-0 on a 12th-minute goal — but we’re actually far more interested in the video that surfaced on the winning team’s Youtube page following the game.
With the stadium clear of fans and presumably only a few stadium workers on hand, three players from the Kansas City team took the field to reenact one of baseball’s most famous — or infamous — scenes: the George Brett pine tar incident from July 24, 1983.
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For those unfamiliar, after George Brett hit a two-run homer to give the Kansas City Royals a 5-4 lead in the ninth inning, Yankees manager Billy Martin complained there was too much pine tar on Brett’s bat. Umpire Tim McClelland investigated and determined Martin’s claims to be accurate, so he called Brett out, which led to Brett’s memorable explosion.
Here’s the original moment in all its glory.
First of all, this would only be appropriate for another Kansas City sports franchise to recreate.
Second, all things considered, we’d say the Sporting Kansas City crew did a fair job. Of course, they did have a few disadvantages with the old stadium being gone, Billy Martin being gone, those glorious Royals jerseys not being available and the darn advertising signage being in the way. But if you can just look past those minor issues, it’s applaudable.
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Also, this reenactment might require a sequel, because Tim McClelland’s decision was later overturned after the Royals filed a protest. The game was restarted from the point after Brett’s home run, and Kansas City held on to win the game 5-4. Even if we just get a handshake line scene, it would give us the necessary closure.
BLS H/N: Cut 4
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
