Tonight is the 30th anniv of the GREATEST baseball promotion!

[Blue_Tires]

10-Cent Beer Night
Cleveland Municipal Stadium / June 4, 1974
By James G. Robinson

Mike Hargrove remembers his first game in Cleveland well.

The Indians graciously gave away their beer. Their fans gave away the game.

10-Cent Beer Night was the Indians' most desperate stunt in the club's most desperate era. Cleveland was mired in the AL East cellar for half a decade despite the best efforts of ace hurler Gaylord Perry, who won 24 games and the Cy Young Award in 1972. Stagnant attendance at Municipal Stadium (their turnout in 1973 had been the second-lowest since World War II) prompted the announcement that at selected games stadium vendors would offer a 10-ounce cup of Strohs for just 10 cents.

Cleveland's first (and last) "10-Cent Beer Night" was the first game of a three-game series against the Texas Rangers, who had held "cheap beer nights" of their own at Arlington Stadium the previous season without incident. Even though the Rangers had suffered through two of the worst seasons in baseball history since moving from Washington to Arlington, star turns by right fielder Jeff Burroughs (AL MVP) and Ferguson Jenkins (25-12, 2.83) and the emergence of Hargrove (AL Rookie of the Year) would help the surprising Rangers finish the 1974 season second in the AL West with an 84-76 record.

An incident a week earlier in Arlington brought some testosterone-laden intrigue to the "Beer Night" matchup. It all began with a hard slide into Indians second baseman Jack Brohamer by the Rangers' Lenny Randle; four innings later Indians hurler Milt Wilcox retaliated with a fastball behind Randle's head. Instead of charging the mound, Randle bunted the next pitch up the first base line. As Wilcox charged the ball, he was greeted by a hard forearm shove from Randle, who then barreled into Cleveland's hulking first baseman John Ellis.

As the obligatory brawl ensued, more than a few Indians found themselves doused with beer gleefully hurled from the stands. Rangers shortstop Toby Harrah remarked that the normally docile Ranger fans were becoming "more and more like the ones in Venezuela," who frequently chased referees out of arenas.

It certainly seemed like a good percentage of the Indians fans attending "10-Cent Beer Night" were looking for a measure of revenge. For a team that had averaged less than 8,000 fans a game the previous season, the announced attendance of over 25,000 was an impressive turnout. But many of the fans were already tipsy when they showed up and things turned ugly early. Especially ominous were the sounds of small explosions from the stands, heard from the press box as early as the first inning.


More
www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/features/flashbacks/06_04_1974.stm

[tcfrogs]

1. Agreed, but Disco Demolition was good too!

At Comiskey in 1979, should be a 25th anniversary for that coming up...

[Gato Moteado]

3. i was there!

i feared for my life. disco demolition double header against the tigers with steve dahl at the break. it was a war zone in comiskey that day.

[Blue_Tires]

4. did they

sell a lot of cheap beer at that event, too? what caused the riot?

[Gato Moteado]

7. the beer wasn't the problem...

....it was the 20,000, or so, disco hating teenagers throwing LPs like they were frisbees onto the field all through game 1. the promotion was that you got in for 98 cents (it was sponsored by the loop FM98 radio station) if you brought a disco record to the park and gave it to the ticket agent. the gimmick was that they'd collect all the records and put them in a big box in center field between games and blow them all up. the problem was that many people brought a stack of records but only gave up one each to get the 98 cent ticket. the idiots at the gates let these people carry in the rest of their records (mostly LPs) and they were flung like frisbees throughout the game when ever the tigers were on the field. these records, which could probably cut your head off, were whizzing just over our heads and hitting the field around the players and shattering. the players were spooked and so were many of the fans. if that wasn't bad enough, kids were launching bottle rockets from high in the stands onto the field too and those things were shooting just over our heads as well. it felt like a battle field.

then when game one was over and steve dahl came onto the field to blow up the box of records the crowd got crazy. then they blew up all the recods....it was unimpressive, not much of an explosion. then thousands of kids rushed the field. i sat in my seat and watched drunken teenagers running around the field, stealing the bases (i mean literally stealing the bases...pulling them out of the ground), and starting fires in the grass. it was crazy....i got out of there after watching the riot and headed to the train to go back home. game two, incidentally, was forfeited.

it was a trip...something that could only happen while the late, great bill veeck was still the owner of the team.

[prolesunited]

6. I was there too!

We rented a bus to the stadium and hung banners and signs out the window. We had coolers full of alcohol in the aisles. I remember being in the middle of the field as all hell was breaking loose. It was surreal to say the least.

We couldn't find our way back to the bus so we ended up hitching a ride home.

[Beware the Beast Man]

2. #2 In the Cleveland All-Time Hall of Shame

Next to the Cuyahoga River fire.

[Blue_Tires]

5. ttt one time

[Bozita]

8. Great thread. Thanks for all the war stories.

Two of baseball's "Days of Infamy."

[Blue_Tires]

9. Disco Demolition Night's 25th anniv

will be on July 12..Here's a great site with the background and first-hand accounts:

http://whitesoxinteractive.com/History&Glory/DiscoDemolition.htm

[Servo300]

10. When was it that they had a midget suit up and play?

I recall reading about that one, think it was a long time ago.

[Bozita]

11. That was in the '50s -- It was Bill Veeck again

can't remember the teams though.

[Bozita]

12. Eddie Gaedel, St. Louis Browns, Aug 18, 1951

http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/G/Gaedel_Eddie.stm

The most publicized stunt in baseball history took place August 18, 1951, at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, when, to the surprise of 18,369 fans, 3'7" 65-lb midget Eddie Gaedel emerged from a seven-foot birthday cake between games of a Browns-Tigers doubleheader. Browns owner Bill Veeck concocted the idea to boost attendance, and to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of both the American League and the Falstaff Brewing Co., radio sponsor of the Browns.

Gaedel, a stage performer, was wearing a Browns uniform with the number 1/8, and little slippers turned up at the end like elf's shoes. In the bottom of the first, St. Louis manager Zach Taylor sent Gaedel to the plate to pinch hit for Frank Saucier. Veeck had instructed the diminutive Brownie to crouch low, and not swing his toy-like bat. Detroit skipper Red Rolfe protested Gaedel's presence, but Taylor produced a legitimate contract, filed with the AL and cleared by umpire Ed Hurley.

In his stance, Gaedel's strike zone measured 1-1/2 inches. Detroit pitcher Bob Cain walked the midget, throwing four straight balls. When Jim Delsing went in to run for him, the crowd gave Gaedel a standing ovation. The Browns lost, 6-2, despite Gaedel's instant offense. AL president Will Harridge was furious with Veeck's burlesque and unsuccessfully tried to strike Gaedel's name from the record books. Gaedel was paid $100 for his appearance, and was insured for $1 million by Veeck. In future years Veeck used him in a few other promotions. (RTM)

[Bozita]

13. photo of Gaedel

[Blue_Tires]

14. also unmentioned in the piece was

the fact that an estimated 60,000(!) gallons of beer were bought and consumed

[Bozita]

15. 60,000gal/ 25,000 fans = 2.4 gal/person

Each gallon is 128 oz. or 10 2/3 twelve ounce cans.

That's like 26 cans per person.

[Blue_Tires]

16. remember

a lot of fans threw beer on players and themselves