When Billy explained that it wasn’t his bat, and also that pitchers sometimes use corked bats during batting practice, the umpires let him off with a warning. Wood went one way and cork went the other. Hatcher swung at a pitch and broke his bat. The Chicago Cubs were visiting the Astrodome and Billy made his way to the plate with a bat he had borrowed from one of the Astros pitching staff. Billy Hatcherīilly Hatcher, our number two hitter, was having an offensive career year for the Houston Astros. The home run stood, but the single was stricken from the record book. Poor Graig, duped into cheating by a Chicago-based Yankees fan. Nettles had some explaining to do.Īnd what was his explanation? It was the bat that the fan had given him in Chicago. As Graig rounded first, Tigers catcher, Bill Freehan scrambled about picking up six super balls that had magically appeared from the broken bat. Nettles, who had homered in his previous at-bat, hit a broken-bat single. The 1974 season progressed and the Yankees were playing the Detroit Tigers at Shea Stadium (this is not a typo, the Yankees played at Shea while Yankee Stadium was being renovated).

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