How to not sell a call...

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Ref Ump Welsch

Look at the pine tar incident this way...Billy Martin waited till Brett touched the plate after he hit the homerun to appeal the bat. He didn't say anything before because he wanted to take away a game-winning homerun.

Like he knew there was going to be a game-winning home run. And so what? Brett's bat was in violation, and the penalty was quite clear. End of story.

It's pretty known in baseball historian circles that Steinbrenner had directed Martin to act that way, wait till they would have lost the game before appealing.

According to Yankee players, it was Graig Nettles. Steinbrenner is an a$$ and it doesn't take a baseball historian to figure that out. I don't believe he could come to that decision if his wallet depended on it. BTW, really don't believe what most baseball "historians" spout. Many still believe in Abner Doubleday and baseball being a true American game.

It wasn't the AL president who overturned McClelland's call, it was the Major League office.

Actually, it was Lee McPhail who ignored the rules and declared the ruling didn't meet the "spirit of the rule". I think McPhail must have been drinking some spirits to make such a fool-hardy decision.