The Pine Tar Incident Revisited

You might have missed this yesterday, but a pitcher on the Yankees was ejected for having pine tar on his neck.

In light of that, I thought that it would be nice to revisit the original Pine Tar Incident.

Now, most everyone knows about the Pine Tar Incident, but did you know that there were some actual legal cases as a result of the game?

After the Yankees were declared the winner, the Royals protested the game. Their protest was eventually upheld by the American League, and the game was ordered to be resumed in the 9th innning, with Brett's home run counted.

The Yankees didn't want to play the game, so for the resumption of the game, the Yankees announced that they would charge non-season-ticket holders a $2.50 admission fee to attend. Two lawsuits were filed against the Yankees and Bronx Supreme Court (trial court) Justice Orest Maresca issued an injunction, also requested by the Yankees, preventing the game from being resumed until the lawsuits were litigated. Maresca also cited the Yankees' expressed concerns about security problems resulting from confusion over admission to the game

That injunction was immediately appealed by the American League and was overturned by Supreme Court Appellate Division Justice Joseph Sullivan. The Royals, who were in flight during that day's legal battles, did not know that the game would be played until they arrived at Newark Airport.

The Yankees finally agreed to allow admission for the game's conclusion to anybody with a ticket stub from the July 24th game at no additional charge.

Ain't baseball fun?