Watch: George Brett and the pine tar game, 33 years later

Sometimes, an otherwise meaningless regular-season game can turn memorable with one swing of the bat. Or, in this case, a little bit of pine tar.

On July 24, 1983, 33,944 fans witnessed perhaps the most bizarre end to a game ever. With two outs in the ninth inning, George Brett smacked a two-run homer off Goose Gossage to give the Royals a 5-4 lead over the Yankees. That's when Yankees manager Billy Martin decided to ask the umpires to check Brett's bat, saying that he'd coated it in an illegal amount of pine tar.

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

Umpire Tim McClelland inspected the bat at home plate, concluded that the amount of tar exceeded the maximum allowance, and called Brett out, giving the Yankees a 4-3 win. The call sent the Hall of Fame third baseman into a blind rage, as he barreled out of the dugout gunning for McClelland, accidentally creating one of the most iconic baseball images of the 1980s in the process. Royals pitcher Gaylord Perry stole the bat amid the chaos to keep it from the umpires - it didn't work - and manager Dick Howser immediately filed a protest with the American League.

AL president Larry MacPhail upheld the Royals' protest, and ordered the final four outs replayed at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 18. When the game resumed in front of virtually nobody, Brett wasn't there, having been ejected; he watched from a bar in the Newark airport.

The Yankees, in a protest of their own, put pitcher Ron Guidry in center field and first baseman Don Mattingly at second base, making Mattingly just the 10th and most recent left-hander to play second since 1913.

And yes, Brett's home run stood up, as the Royals - three weeks later - held on for a 5-4 win that remains one of the strangest moments in the sport's history.