Billy Martin, Bart Giamatti Kick it In Afterlife, Chuckle Over Errors

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner
245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10167

(212) 931-3800

Dear Mr. Commissioner:


Though we’re still 11 days away from the 24th anniversary of the George Brett pine tar incident (note: hint as to what I’ll be writing about that day), but there was an interesting article in today’s Business Section of The Kansas City Star. Dan Margolies wrote about a legal dispute between one Leo Stoller and Brett Brothers Sports International, Inc. What the dispute was regarding is of little interest. Early in the article, however, Margolies offers this fine paragraph:

"Fans all remember that Brett’s dramatic ninth-inning home run against the
Yankees, putting the Royals ahead, was nullified by home plate umpire Tim
McClelland after he determined that the pine tar on Brett’s bat exceeded 18
inches in length. What fans may not remember is that American League president
Lee MacPhail subsequently overruled McClelland, and the Royals wound up winning
the game."

I like that term: nullified. I also like the brass it takes for a president to overrule what one of his colleagues has done. A. Bartlett Giamatti and Fay Vincent, Jr. are both respectable men, I’m sure. I continue to insist that no disrespect would be done to either individual were the ban on Pete Rose to be lifted. Margolies closes his piece with the phrase, “it’s a good thing that our legal system, like baseball, has appellate review.”



If baseball has appellate review, let’s review that August day in 1989 and re-consider the implications of Giamatti’s decision 18 years ago. Rose belongs in the Hall. I honorably request that you take the first step in putting him there. Tim McClelland made a mistake in that call, yet he continued an amazing career calling games. Why can’t the same oversight be attributed to Rose’s case? I suspect that it can, and hope that we will one day see eye to eye on this matter.