Pine Tar - Use of Pine Tar in Baseball

Use of Pine Tar in Baseball

In baseball, pine tar is applied to the handles of baseball bats. Because of its texture, pine tar improves a batter's grip on the bat and prevents the bat from slipping out of the batter's hands during hard swings. It also helps hitters because they do not have to grip the bat as hard and in result the hitter gets more "pop".

Rule 1.10(c) of the 2002 Official Rules of Major League Baseball states that batters may apply pine tar only from the handle of the bat extending up for 18 inches. The most famous example of the rule being applied is the Pine Tar Game, the July 24, 1983 game between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees in which George Brett hit a home run to put the Royals ahead 5-4. Yankees manager Billy Martin immediately protested that Brett's bat had more than 18 inches of pine tar. The umpires called Brett out and nullified the home run. However, league president Lee MacPhail overruled the umpires. MacPhail said that the pine tar restriction wasn't about competitive advantage, but economics. If too much pine tar was on the bat, pine tar would end up on the ball and render it unusable for play. MacPhail said that the umpires shouldn't have taken the home run off the board, but simply discarded the bat. The game was resumed from the point of the home run, and the Royals won.

Pine tar is also sometimes used by pitchers in baseball to improve grip on the ball in cold weather, although it is questionable whether it gives a pitcher any competitive advantage. However, the application of any foreign substance to a ball is expressly prohibited by 8.02 of the MLB Official Rules, and, if caught, results in an automatic eight-game suspension.