Mr. McDonnell spends up to an hour and a half preparing a home for an open house, cutting fresh pine branches or picking fresh lavender and mint from his herb garden.

WSJ: Using Smell to Make a Sale

When he famously got a home run taken away from him for having too much pine tar on his bat in 1983, he went from dugout to umpire in a 3.7 seconds.

WSJ: The Race From Dugout to Umpire's Face

He's most famous for the so-called pine-tar incident, in which a home-plate umpire at Yankees Stadium disallowed a Brett home run on grounds that his bat bore an overly liberal coating of pine tar.

WSJ: Brett Returns as Royals Hitting Coach