For the Kansas City Royals, George Brett’s Pine Tar Incident has aged well in 40 years

Former New York Yankees broadcaster Frank Messer captured the moment perfectly.

It was July 24, 1983 and Messer couldn’t believe his eyes. Kansas City Royals star George Brett had just crushed the hearts of the New York faithful.

Brett belted a two-out, ninth-inning homer off Goose Gossage to give the Royals a 5-4 lead.

“Uh-oh, uh-oh,” Messer said during the broadcast. “That’s gone.”

The home run call still rings true for many Royals fans. But that simple phrase had a double meaning. Messer didn’t know it then, but his call would serve as the prelude to one of the most indelible series of events in Major League Baseball history:

The Pine Tar Game.

Forty years ago, Brett was at the center of the MLB universe, a superstar. But on that day, he was called out after home plate umpire Tim McClelland discovered what he believed to be an excessive amount of pine tar.

Brett became incensed and went on an epic tirade.

The wild-eyed, cussing Brett had to be restrained by several of his Royals teammates. The Yankees were granted their wish, much to the delight of New York manager Billy Martin. If you recall, it was Martin who drew attention to the entire situation after Brett homered.

“When the umpires called me out,” Brett told The Star in 2014, “my protest kind of made it famous. When I saw the video, I was amazed at my reaction. I couldn’t believe it. I had no clue that I did that.”

The Royals played the remainder of the game under protest. Former American League president Lee MacPhail later decided that the game would be restarted at the moment of Brett’s home run. The restart happened on Aug. 18, 1983, and the Royals were victorious.

Brett’s popularity soared after the incident. People still flock to YouTube to watch the original sequence, as evidenced by its 2.9 million views.

This includes several current Royals — in spite of the fact that no one on the current team’s roster was born yet, and even current Royals manager Matt Quatraro was just 9 years old.

Brett’s tirade remains so iconic that it’s led several Royals to relive the moment for themselves.

“I was actually watching that game,” Quatraro said. “That was on in New York and I remember, as a Yankee fan at the time, we are going to lose this game. The next three minutes later, we won.”

Royals pitcher Brady Singer loves seeing Brett’s passion in the moment. He said Brett was his dad’s favorite player. So he naturally has fond memories of it

“I like that kind of stuff,” Singer said. “He (Brett) was super-passionate about the game. Obviously, knowing him now, you can still see it when he comes to the park.”

While Singer describes Brett’s antics that day as passionate, other Royals had different first impressions after seeing Brett so fired up.

“I think the first time I ever saw it, I thought how much of a psycho George was until I actually met him,” Royals infielder Nicky Lopez said. “Then, you meet him and it kind of makes sense. It kind of fits.”

Brett said he always fought for his teammates at every turn. Now, his outburst exemplifies playing the game with passion.

“I knew I ran out on the field, but that’s the type of player I was,” Brett said. “I wore my emotions on my sleeve. I played hard. When a call like that goes against you, you’re going to react.”

The Royals want today’s players to show a similar fire as they go about their craft. As for who could reach Brett’s level of emotions, several quickly pointed to Nate Eaton and Drew Waters.

Said Brett: “There were a couple of times in the dugout where there were random testy moments that happened and go under the radar in a baseball game. I was like, ‘Alright, Nate is ready to roll.’ He would be my pick.”

The Royals went 79-83-1 during the 1983 season. Brett hit .310 with 25 homers and 93 RBIs and went on to make his eighth of his club-record 13 All-Star Game appearances.

Brett was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999. He also is a member of the Royals Hall of Fame and his No. 5 jersey is retired in Kansas City.

Those honors aren’t the only ones Brett fans treasure. It’s clear he will always be remembered as well for his antics at old Yankee Stadium. And that’s just fine by him.

“It’s what I’m known for,” Brett said.