'PINE TAR INCIDENT' Brett offers new confession to honor 20th anniversary

He said the bat he used to get his 3,000th hit had even more pine tar on it.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A little secret about George Brett's "other" famous bat, the one he used 10 years ago to deliver his 3,000th hit:
That bat would have been illegal, too.
As Brett reflected on Thursday's 20th anniversary of the infamous "Pine Tar Incident," he offered this first-time confession.
"I have that bat I used for the 3,000th hit on a wall in my basement," he said, "and I guarantee you it has far more pine tar on it than the one I got called out for.
"The 3,000th-hit bat is ugly. It's a mess. Pine tar all the way up it."
The "Pine Tar" bat has been resting comfortably in Cooperstown at the Baseball Hall of Fame for almost a decade.
"I used to keep it at this restaurant in California during the winter and then give it to Cooperstown for the summer tourist season," Brett said. "Then after a while, I just told them to keep it. That's where it belongs."
Reflects on incident
After all, Brett doesn't need any visual reminders of that bizarre afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Every five years denotes another anniversary, and Brett is again asked to reflect on the sequence of events that forever linked his name to the words "pine tar."
Not that he minds. Through the years, he has been asked just about every conceivable question about that afternoon.
And only one time has he ever become annoyed.
"Some guy asked me once if I put the pine tar on the bat on purpose," Brett said, shaking his head. "Now, how stupid is that? (Of course) I put it there on purpose. It's what I used."
Brett never wore batting gloves during his career. Not once. The pine tar was there, in globs around the trademark, to aid his grip.
Brett knew the rule, too. No pine tar more than 18 inches above the bat handle. He just never thought it would be enforced. And it never has been since.
"I understood that there was a time when you didn't want pine tar on the balls because you'd have to throw the balls out all the time," he said.
"It was kind of a financial thing for baseball in the old days. But when the incident happened, it's not like the game couldn't afford new balls."
Never stopped using pine tar
Brett never stopped using the substance altogether.
"Once in a while an umpire would say, 'Hey, George, can you ease it down a bit?' " Brett said. "So I'd change bats. But the next day I'd go right back to the one I'd been using."
Brett has had to endure endless ribbing any time the subject of pine tar is broached.
"I remember walking into Office Depot one time and the guy waiting on me said, 'Oh, sorry, I think we're out of pine tar,' " Brett said. "Or if I go golfing at some charity event, someone will always say, 'Hey, don't be loading up on the pine tar on that driver.'
"There's usually about nine guys who say that and think they're the first ones who've ever thought about it."