Packers Pine Tar Soap - Treasure From a Yard Sale

This is the tin container for a 1939 bar of Packers Pine Tar Soap. I got it at a yard sale the other day for 50 cents. Prices range from $3 on E-bay to $32 on a vintage antique site. If you have the bar of soap that goes with it the price is dramaticaly higher.

I've never really been one for yard sales. But we were passing one on Sunday and the glass bottles and stuff caught my eye, so we turned around. I was attracted to this colorful little tin box right away. Of course it gave me a good excuse to google pine tar soap, which we never used in my house growing up,and until Sunday had never heard of.

Turns out that pine tar is a sticky substance produced by the high temperatures used to carbonize wood. The reason we carbonize wood is to make things such as charcoal and pine tar. I knew that charcoal is used for cooking but the pine tar was still a mystery beyond knowing that it was once used in soap.

Carpenters take note, pine tar is also a preservative for wood in harsh conditions. Ship decks and rigging are prime examples. If I had been born 100 years earlier I would know this from my time aboard ships. It is also a veterinary care product, being used for an antiseptic as well as hoof care. But wait... we're not done yet.

In the sports world pine tar is used to give the batter a better grip on the bat. There is actually a rule on this in Professional Baseball. Rule 1.10(c) of the 2002 Official Rules of Major League Baseball allows batters to coat the handle of the bat no more than 18 inches on the handle in order to get more "pop" out of a hit. There is actually a game known as "The Pine Tar Game" which took place between the Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees on July 24th, 1983. George Brett of the Royals hit a home run which put them ahead with a score of 5-4. Billy Martin, manager of the Yankees called a protest and the umpire nullified the hit. But the League President overruled the ump (didn't know he could do that!) and the game was rescheduled for August 6th. The Royals won.

Pine tar has also been used by pitchers in colder weather for greater control of the ball. The practice is illegal under 8.02 of the same Official Rules of Major League Baseball. Apparently what's good for the bat is not always good for the balls.

Well, I've gotten my 50 cents worth from this little treasure already. Even learned a few things, too. But I'll still keep it around anyway, simply because I like the way it looks.