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COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Baseball Hall of Famer George Brett is his jovial self, laughing and smiling while reflecting on his rage 40 years ago today in the infamous yet celebrated Pine Tar Game against the New York Yankees.

On July 24, 1983, with two outs in the ninth inning and his visiting Kansas City Royals trailing, Brett hit a two-run home run off fellow future Hall of Famer Rich “Goose” Gossage, vaulting the Royals into a 5-4 lead. New York manager Billy Martin immediately challenged the homer on the grounds that the pine tar on Brett’s bat covered more than the allowable 18 inches.

After the umpires huddled and measured the bat’s pine tar against the 17-inch width of home plate, rookie ump Tim McClelland invalidated Brett’s blast, pointed the bat at the Royals’ dugout and called Brett out, unleashing the ire of the Royals’ third baseman, who stormed back onto the field. The chaotic scene, vivid for the ages, painted a new perception of Brett and altered the annals of baseball.

Security confiscated the bat from the Royals after K.C. pitcher Gaylord Perry had taken it from McClelland. It was delivered to the office of American League president Lee MacPhail. Four days after Brett had circled the bases, MacPhail upheld Kansas City’s protest, overturned the on-field decision, reinstated the homer, negated the Yankees’ 4-3 win and ordered the game replayed from the moment of the controversy. MacPhail said that although the umpires’ interpretation of Rule 1.10 (b) was “technically defensible,” it was “not in accord with the intent or spirit of the rules.” The rulebook provision was meant to avoid dirtying too many baseballs, not to affect the outcome of a play or game.

On Aug. 18 in the Bronx, it took 12 minutes for the Royals and Yankees to replay the end of the game from the moment of controversy, in front of about 1,200 fans (nearly 34,000 had attended July 24). The Royals won 5-4 without Brett, as MacPhail had retroactively ejected Brett for his outburst. That offseason, Major League Baseball changed the rule, memorializing the explosive events as a unique chapter in the sport’s history.

Brett, who played for the Royals during his entire MLB career from 1973 to 1993, is the only man to win batting titles in three decades. He was an All-Star for 13 consecutive seasons, won the AL Most Valuable Player Award in 1980 and was a World Series champion and Gold Glove winner in 1985. The lefty’s .390 batting average in 1980 remains the second highest (behind Tony Gwynn’s .394 in 1994) since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941. Now in his 31st season as the Royals’ vice president of baseball operations, Brett was a first-ballot Hall of Fame electee in 1999.

Brett, 70, in Cooperstown for the annual induction weekend, spoke Friday about the pine tar episode, his unforgettable tirade and how the bat ended up in the museum here that displays his and Gossage’s Hall of Fame plaques. Here are excerpts from that conversation, which has been edited for clarity and length.

How would you complete a sentence that starts with ‘July 24, 1983?’

July 24, 1983, I remember distinctly I was in the Bronx and it was a Sunday day game. We were playing the team that I despise the most, the New York Yankees, and they despise me. And I’m forever known as the “pine tar guy.” Goose and I have had a lot of laughs over that ever since he got in the Hall of Fame. I never said one word to Goose Gossage playing against him, playing with him and All-Star Games — never said one word. And then we met on a golf course and played golf, and now we’re best buds. I love him.

What were you known for before that day?

Nineteen-eighty was the summer that I almost hit .400 and obviously a lot of stress, and we finally beat the Yankees in the ’80 playoffs. All of a sudden, after beating the Yankees, I didn’t feel good. I felt a really bad pain inside me, basically, and it turned out I had internal and external hemorrhoids. And it seemed like everywhere I went after that, getting loose before your at-bat, all the idiots that would be sitting by the on-deck circle would make jokes. You never turn around. I just ignored it. But then, July 24, 1983, came around and then I was the pine tar guy. Seriously, what would you rather be remembered for? Hitting a home run off Goose Gossage in the ninth inning to win a ballgame, or being the guy with hemorrhoids in the World Series?

How many times have you seen the video of that day and what do you take from it when you do see it?

I see it quite a bit. I don’t pull it up on YouTube, I don’t do that. I’m not one of those guys who’ll watch it over and over again, but just by chance, watching TV and seeing clips of it, I’ve probably seen it 100 times. Showed it to my kids a whole bunch of times when they were young. I wanted to see the look on their faces when I got mad, and I told them you better never make me this mad, and they never did.

When you watch that video, what regretful memories do you have?

The one thing I regret is I wish I wouldn’t have waved my hands that much when I was running out. It’s funny, some of the Royals’ minor league affiliates will do a bobble head and draw fans in, and they had George Brett bobblehead night one day in Lexington, Kentucky — one of our A-League teams back in the days — and instead of the bobble head moving around, the arms went up and down. I thought that was kind of good. But no, I have no regrets at all. None whatsoever. I mean, I played to win. I would do whatever it took to win a ballgame, and then when you do something as heroic as what I did, two outs in the ninth inning, hit a home run off Goose Gossage, a Hall of Fame pitcher, and you think you’ve won the game and all of a sudden they say you cheated — obviously, I didn’t cheat. Didn’t feel like I had to cheat, I thought I was a pretty good player. But for them to take that away was frustrating. Ironically, a teammate of mine, [Hall of Famer] Gaylord Perry, who liked memorabilia, thought it’d be cool to steal the bat from the umpire, so he steals it.

What do you think of where the bat is now?

It’s right where it belongs, it belongs in the Hall of Fame. At one time, I did sell it. I was getting all these offers from people to buy it. Barry Halper, collector, part owner of the New York Yankees, I sold it to him for $25,000. About two weeks later, I came to my senses and I said, “No, Barry, I can’t do that. Here’s your $25,000 back.” I got the bat back and I gave it to the Hall of Fame. It’s a piece of baseball history and it’s gonna stay in here the rest of its life. One thing I do regret is I used that bat again. I cleaned it all up. The bat was a really good bat. It was an eight- or nine-grainer, the least amount of grain on the bat is usually where the heart of the wood is. And I’d used that bat for probably a month. Lee MacPhail shipped it back to us, we were in Detroit when I got the bat back, playing the Tigers. And the first thing I did is I got some rubbing alcohol and I cleaned off the bat to 18 inches and drew a red line around the bat. I used it for two or three days again and Gaylord comes up to me and says, “George, you can’t use that bat, it’s too valuable. If you break it, it’s not worth anything.” So I took it out of play and that’s when I got rid of it. But I wish I would have kept the bat in its original state. I think it would be better for everybody to see what it was. I think the rule is 18 inches and my pine tar, I think, was 23. So it’s 5 inches over the limit. But here’s the kicker, I used a bat that was unfinished, it was raw ash — a lot of people put enamel finish on it or some type of shellac or something. I just used raw wood. And so the pine tar itself, I don’t think was up that high. It just kind of grew in the grain because there was no protection, there was no varnish on the bat or anything like that. So it was black going up there, up to the end of the bat. But it really wasn’t pine tar, it was just kind of growing into the wood.

Let’s go back to the game itself. What do you remember about the situation and your emotions when you hit the home run, right up until the home run was — at least for the moment — nullified?

They had a guy come in, [Dale] Murray, who had a good sinker, threw a really heavy ball. And he was cruising along, pitched three innings, did a great job. And then U.L. Washington got a base hit off him and they brought Goose in to face me. And I would rather face a guy that threw like Goose. I had a lot of at bats off Goose. I don’t think he ever threw me a slider. I don’t think he ever threw a changeup in his life. And when he faced Hal McRae, Amos Otis and those guys, he would throw sliders, but he always threw me fastballs. And I just said, “Hey, you know, you got to just look fastball.” And so I looked fastball and the next thing you know, hit a home run. I was excited, ran around the bases, gave us the lead in the top of the ninth inning, there was two outs. And the next thing you know, I’m crossing home plate and I saw Billy Martin out there, and I’m going, “What the hell’s he doing out there?” By the time I get to the dugout, I’m sitting there next to Vida Blue, I think, and Frank White was sitting close to me. And Frank said, “You know, they might call you out for using too much pine tar.” And I said, “I’ve never heard of that before. Too much pine tar. What do you mean?” He said, “Well, they called John Mayberry out on that.” (Editor’s note: In a 1975 game, Mayberry’s bat was inspected for excess pine tar after he hit two home runs for the Royals, but the umpires didn’t penalize him and an Angels protest was denied by MacPhail.) And I go, “Well, if they call me out for using too much pine tar, I’ll run out and kill one of those SOBs.” And sure enough, as soon as I said that, Tim McClelland walks over and points at me and says, “You’re out.” I mean, obviously, I wasn’t gonna hit him. I looked like a madman coming out. I think everything kind of got a little more dramatic than it should have. Because [umpire] Joe Brinkman got behind me and started pulling me back, and I was trying to get away and he had a chokehold on me and just pulling me backwards and backwards and I was just trying to get free from him. I wasn’t going after Tim McClelland. I mean, as Timmy would always say, “George, what were you gonna do to me? I’m 6’5″ [he was listed at 6’6″], I’ve got shin guards on, I’ve got a bat in one hand, a mask in the other. What are you gonna do to me?” I said, “Timmy, I was just going to come out and yell at you, I wasn’t going to hit you. You would’ve kicked my ass.” But it’s something that we all joke about. I remember getting telegrams from back in the day, 1983. I got a telegram from Joe Brinkman, the day that Lee MacPhail overruled it. He said, “Congratulations on your home run, can’t wait to see you again.” And ironically enough, Tim McClelland was umpiring behind home plate in Detroit when I got my bat back. And Tim says, “Hey, you want me to check your bat?” And I said, “Timmy, let’s just let this pass, OK?” But yeah, it was great. It was a good moment. Baseball players are always remembered for something, you know. And if I’m going to be remembered for hitting a home run and showing my emotions and my desire to win, that’s good, that’s a good thing.

What did you learn about how the Yankees even thought to do that [challenge the home run]?

Well, two weeks prior to that we were playing the Yankees in Kansas City. I was using the same bat. And [Yankees third baseman] Graig Nettles always tells the story that we (the Yankees) knew it was illegal two weeks ago, but he (Brett) never got a hit in the seventh, eighth or ninth inning to change the outcome of the game. You might get a base hit with two outs and nobody on in the first inning or base hit with nobody on in the fifth inning. They’re not going to challenge that. So they waited for the right time, and the right time was in New York in Yankee Stadium in the ninth inning when I did something dramatic — and that’s when they called me out on it.

Royals general manager John Schuerholz decided to appeal. What do you know about the process and decision?

Obviously, I love the decision when Schuerholz and Dean Taylor, our assistant GM, protested the call by the umpire. Lee MacPhail ruled in the Royals’ favor. I don’t know what was in the letter, but John’s a pretty bright guy, and they got it overturned. We had to go back on an off day. I was kicked out of the game. I was still gonna go to the game, but the manager then, Dick Howser, said don’t even go the stadium, it’ll be a circus. So me and the son of [famed actor] Don Ameche, Larry — he was a TWA rep, we always chartered TWA jets back then — we went to some restaurant in New Jersey, an Italian restaurant, and watched the game on a little 10-inch TV. And went back to the airport, the guys had to go there after finishing the game, and next thing you know we were flying to Baltimore.

What do you think this anniversary should mean?

I don’t know. Ironically enough, the Royals are in Yankee Stadium [over the weekend], which I think is great. I think every July 24th, they should play there. What does it mean? I don’t know. Put it this way, if I didn’t have the pine tar on my bat, we wouldn’t be doing this interview right now. I’d be on the golf course and maybe still sleeping, who knows. If it happened in Cleveland back then, if it happened in Oakland back then, would we be doing this? But it’s New York City, you know, and that’s the whole deal. New York’s a big deal. I seemed to always play well in New York. It was just something that I’m proud of. Sometimes you gotta remind the younger generation that I was the guy that did that, but it’s cool.

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O’s Henderson off IL; will make ’25 debut vs. KC

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O's Henderson off IL; will make '25 debut vs. KC

Baltimore Orioles All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson was activated from the 10-day injured list and will make his season debut Friday night against the Kansas City Royals.

Henderson has been sidelined with a right intercostal strain and missed the first seven games of the big league campaign.

The 23-year-old Henderson will lead off and play shortstop against the host Royals.

Henderson was injured during a spring training game Feb. 27. He was fourth in American League MVP voting last season when he batted .281 and racked up career bests of 37 homers and 92 RBIs.

Henderson completed a five-game rehab stint at Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday. He batted .263 (5-for-19) with two homers and four RBIs and played four games at shortstop and one as the designated hitter. He did commit three errors.

“I think everybody’s looking forward to having Gunnar back on the team,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said Thursday. “The rehab went really, really well. I talked to him a couple days ago, he feels great swinging the bat. The timing came, especially the last few days. He just had to get out there and get some reps defensively and get some games in, and it all went well.”

Baltimore optioned outfielder Dylan Carlson to Triple-A Norfolk to open up a roster spot. The 26-year-old was 0-for-4 with a run and RBI in two games this season.

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Life after OMG: Can 2025 Mets replicate their 2024 vibes?

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Life after OMG: Can 2025 Mets replicate their 2024 vibes?

When New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns attempted to assemble the best possible roster for the 2025 season this winter, the top priority was signing outfielder Juan Soto. Next was the need to replenish the starting rotation and bolster the bullpen. Then, days before pitchers and catchers reported for spring training, the lineup received one final significant reinforcement when first baseman Pete Alonso re-signed.

Acquiring a player with a singing career on the side didn’t make the cut.

“No, that is not on the list,” Stearns said with a smile.

Stearns’ decision not to re-sign Jose Iglesias, the infielder behind the mic for the viral 2024 Mets anthem “OMG,” was attributed to creating more roster flexibility. But it also hammered home a reality: The scrappy 2024 Mets, authors of a magical summer in Queens, are a thing of the past. The 2025 Mets, who will report to Citi Field for their home opener Friday, have much of the same core but also some prominent new faces — and the new, outsized expectations that come with falling two wins short of the World Series, then signing Soto to the richest contract in professional sports history.

But there’s a question surrounding this year’s team that you can’t put a price tag on: Can these Mets rekindle the magic — the vibes, the memes, the feel-good underdog story — that seemed to come out of nowhere to help carry them to Game 6 of the National League Championship Series last season?

“Last year the culture was created,” Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “It’s a matter of continuing it.”

For all the success Stearns has engineered — his small-market Milwaukee Brewers teams reached the postseason five times in eight seasons after he became the youngest general manager in history in 2015 — the 40-year-old Harvard grad, like the rest of his front office peers knows there’s no precise recipe for clubhouse chemistry. There is no culture projection system. No Vibes Above Replacement.

“Culture is very important,” Stearns said last weekend in the visiting dugout at Daikin Park before his club completed an opening-weekend series against the Houston Astros. “Culture is also very difficult to predict.”

Still, it seems the Mets’ 2024 season will be all but impossible to recreate.

There was Grimace, the purple McDonald’s blob who spontaneously became the franchise’s unofficial mascot after throwing out a first pitch in June. “OMG,” performed under Iglesias’ stage name, Candelita, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Latin Digital Songs chart, before a remix featuring Pitbull was released in October. Citi Field became a karaoke bar whenever Lindor stepped into the batter’s box with The Temptations’ “My Girl” as his walk-up song. Alonso unveiled a lucky pumpkin in October. They were gimmicks that might have felt forced if they hadn’t felt so right.

“I don’t know if what we did last year could be replicated because it was such a chaos-filled group,” Mets reliever Ryne Stanek said. “I don’t know if that’s replicable because there’s just too many things going on. I don’t know if that’s a sustainable model. But I think the expectation of winning is really important. I think establishing what we did last year and coming into this year where people are like, ‘Oh, no, that’s what we’re expecting to do,’ makes it different. It’s always a different vibe whenever you feel like you’re the hunter versus being the hunted.”

For the first two months last season, the Mets were terrible hunters. Lindor was relentlessly booed at Citi Field during another slow start. The bullpen got crushed. The losses piled up. The Mets began the season 0-5 and sunk to rock bottom on May 29 when reliever Jorge Lopez threw his glove into the stands during a 10-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers that dropped the team to 22-33.

That night, the Mets held a players-only meeting. From there, perhaps coincidentally, everything changed. The Mets won the next day, and 67 of their final 107 games.

This year, to avoid an early malaise and to better incorporate new faces like Soto and Opening Day starter Clay Holmes, players made it a point to hold meetings during spring training to lay a strong foundation.

“At the end of the day, we know who we are and that’s the beauty of our club,” Alonso said. “Not just who we are talent-wise, but who each individual is as a man and a personality. For us, our major, major strength is our collective identity as a unit.”

Organizationally, the Mets are attempting a dual-track makeover: Becoming perennial World Series contenders while not taking themselves too seriously.

The commemorative purple Grimace seat installed at Citi Field in September — Section 302, Row 6, Seat 12 in right field — remains there as part of a two-year contract. Last week, the franchise announced it will feature a New York-city themed “Five Borough” race at every home game — with a different mascot competing to represent each borough. For a third straight season, USA Today readers voted Citi Field — home of the rainbow cookie egg roll, among many other innovative treats — as having the best ballpark food in baseball.

In the clubhouse, their identity is evolving.

“I’m very much in the camp that you can’t force things,” Mets starter Sean Manaea said. “I mean, you can, but you don’t really end up with good results. And if you wait for things to happen organically, then sometimes it can take too long. So, there’s like a nudging of sorts. It’s like, ‘Let’s kind of come up with something, but not force it.’ So there’s a fine balance there and you just got to wait and see what happens.”

Stearns believes it starts with what the Mets can control: bringing positive energy every day and fostering a family atmosphere. It’s hard to quantify, but vibes undoubtedly helped fuel the Mets’ 2024 success. It’ll be a tough act to follow.

“It’s fluid,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I like where guys are at as far as the team chemistry goes and things like that and the connections and the relationships. But it’ll continue to take some time. And winning helps, clearly.”

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Hunter marks quiet day at Colorado Showcase

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Hunter marks quiet day at Colorado Showcase

BOULDER, Colo. — A horde of NFL talent evaluators headed for the mountains Friday for the Colorado Showcase, where Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter was one of the big draws.

However, it was going to be a limited look at best as Hunter was not seen when players’ heights and weights were taken or for the jumps and 40-yard dash.

Hunter, who is expected to be a top-five selection in this year’s draft and is the No. 1 player on Mel Kiper Jr.’s Big Board, was initially not expected to participate in any on-field work, but Friday morning some scouts in attendance said they expected the two-way star to run routes as a receiver for quarterback Shedeur Sanders‘ throwing session.

Hunter did not work out at the scouting combine or Big 12 pro day but did meet with teams in Indianapolis. Sanders, one of the top quarterbacks on the board and Kiper’s No. 5 player overall, also did not work out at the combine.

Sanders’ brother, Colorado safety Shilo Sanders, measured in at 5-foot-11⅞, 196 pounds, but he did not participate in the jumps or bench press that opened the workout, citing a right shoulder injury.

The highly attended event — by scouts, coaches and personnel executives as well as fans packing small bleachers — had a festive atmosphere. Colorado coach Deion Sanders named it the “We Ain’t Hard 2 Find Showcase,” completed with a large lighted “showcase” sign next to the drills.

Hunter, who has said he wants to play offense and defense in the NFL, won the Chuck Bednarik (top defensive player) and Biletnikoff (top receiver) awards, in addition to the Heisman. He said whether he would primarily be a wide receiver or cornerback in the NFL “depended on the team that picks me.”

He had 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns as a receiver last season to go with 35 tackles, 11 pass breakups and four interceptions at cornerback. In the Buffaloes’ regular-season finale against Oklahoma State, he became the only FBS player in the past 25 years with three scrimmage touchdowns on offense and an interception in the same game, according to ESPN Research.

Hunter played 1,380 total snaps in Colorado’s 12 regular-season games: 670 on offense, 686 on defense and 24 on special teams. He played 1,007 total snaps in 2023.

With all NFL eyes on the Colorado campus to see Sanders throw, one player who made the most of it was wide receiver Will Sheppard, who was not invited to the combine. Sheppard, who measured in at 6-2¼, 196 pounds, ran his 40s in 4.56 and 4.54 to go with a 40½-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot-11 in the broad jump.

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