The Pine Tar Incident, II

Its all oral histories these days, and here's one for it:

Brett: Every year in spring training, I talk to all the minor leaguers. It is just me and them, no coaches, no nothing, and I talk for about 40 minutes. Then we do a question-and-answer, and there’s always some new kid in the organization, some 18-year-old kid out of high school, “Hey, tell me about the Pine Tar Game.” And it’s hard for me to really imagine and remember that these kids weren’t even born yet.

Prior to the Pine Tar Game, July 24, 1983, and after the World Series in 1980, every city I went to I was the hemorrhoid guy. I heard every hemorrhoid joke in the world. My best response is, ‘My troubles are all behind me.’ But from October of 1980 to July 24, 1983, that’s what I heard. And from July 24 to 2013, now I’m the pine-tar guy, so it’s really the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Thank you, Billy Martin, thank you, Graig Nettles. I went from having an embarrassing thing that people remembered you for to something positive.