The problem with pine tar and pitchers is that it's very sticky business. No one understands this more than former Major League pitcher Jay Howell.

Howell is the only pitcher in Major League history to be ejected from a postseason game for using pine tar. It happened during Game 3 of the National League Championship Series in 1988 when Howell was pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Also, please note in fairness to Howell that there is a major difference between using pine tar and being ejected for using pine tar. More on that later.

The game when Howell was ejected was one that I will never forget because I was the general manager of the Dodgers at the time.

It was a cold October day at Shea Stadium in New York, and Howell was on the mound with the Dodgers leading the Mets, 4-3, in the bottom of the eighth inning and the series tied at 1.

Suddenly, Davey Johnson, the manager of the Mets, emerged from his dugout and approached home plate umpire Harry Wendelstedt.

The veteran umpire went to the mound, examined Howell's glove and ejected him from the game. Wendelstedt had found pine tar on Howell's glove.

The three Dodgers pitchers who followed Howell to the mound gave up four runs, and the Mets won, 8-4.

As Howell departed the mound and as the Mets mounted their rally, the Shea Stadium fans began to chant "Dodgers cheat! Dodgers cheat!"

I never have been more furious in my baseball life.

It's one thing to lose a game. It's quite another thing to be accused of cheating.

After the game, I went to our clubhouse to meet with our manager, Tommy Lasorda, and pitching coach Ron Perranoski.

I made it clear that no matter what had happened related to Howell, I wanted everyone on our team to be totally forthcoming when we were questioned about the incident.

The fact is, pine tar has been used by pitchers, particularly on cold days, for almost as long as the game has been played. Even so, there is a rule against the use of pine tar by pitchers, and that is the only thing that matters.

"Guys have been using pine tar for a million years," Howell later said. "Most hitters don't object. They don't care about pine tar. They don't like spitballs or scuffed balls."

All of this is part of the problem that Major League Baseball encountered on its biggest stage -- the World Series -- on Sunday night.

In the first inning of Game 2 between the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers, a national television audience saw a dark splotch on the base of the left hand of Tigers lefty Kenny Rogers.

A few of the St. Louis players were tuned in to the telecast in their clubhouse, and the next thing you know, there is a lot of conversation in the Cardinals dugout, with manager Tony La Russa on the receiving end of whatever information was being relayed.

La Russa, unlike Johnson of 18 postseasons ago, didn't ask the umpires to check the substance on Rogers' pitching hand during the course of the inning.

If the umpires had checked and found pine tar on Rogers' hand, he would have been ejected from the game for using an illegal substance. And baseball would have had one of its biggest postseason black marks in decades.

After the top of the first inning, the most visible conversations on television were focused on the Tigers dugout, with third baseman Brandon Inge whispering something to Rogers.

When Rogers returned to the mound for the second inning, the substance on his left hand was missing, but the media attention and controversy on the subject was just heating up.

The umpiring crew and Rogers seemed to have a tough time getting their stories as to what had transpired on the same page, and La Russa simply didn't want to discuss the subject after his Cardinals had gone down in a 3-1 defeat.

"It's not important to talk about," said La Russa. "When a guy pitches like that, as a team, we don't take things away from anybody."

If the subject of the possible use of pine tar isn't important enough to talk about, then Major League baseball should revisit the rule related to the subject.

There is a rule, and as such, the rule should be enforced. If the rule isn't worth having, then toss it out.

If the rule is changed so that pitchers can use pine tar under certain cold-weather conditions, I want to see the reference related to Jay Howell's ejection in 1988 and ultimate two-game suspension removed from the books.

In fact, Howell may even be due an apology. Something like, "We're sorry we ejected you so many years ago for a rule that isn't enforced."