1974 Cleveland Indians Fans Riot From 10 Cent Beer Night

[DuffMan]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=beernight/080604&sportCat=mlb&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos1

Holy Shnikees!!! I usually consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable in Sports History, but I admit to not ever knowing about this. After reading this article all I can say is WOW!

[NewMarketSean]

Didn't they riot during Disco Demolition Night in Cleveland too?

[erb8472]

Didn't they riot during Disco Demolition Night in Cleveland too?

Disco Demolition Night was actually in Chicago.

From wiki...

The turnout for this promotion far exceeded all expectations. White Sox management was hoping for an additional crowd of 5,000, but 50,000 turned up instead. Thousands of people were climbing walls and fences in order to get into Comiskey Park and others were locked out when the stadium was filled to capacity and beyond.

White Sox TV announcers Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall commented freely on the "strange people" wandering aimlessly in the stands. Mike Veeck recalled that the pregame air was heavy with the scent of marijuana.[3] When the crate on the field was filled with records, staff stopped collecting them from spectators who soon realized that long-playing (LP) records were shaped like Frisbees. They began to throw their records from the stands during the game, and the records often struck other fans. The fans also threw beer and even firecrackers from the stands.

After the first game, Dahl, dressed in army fatigues and helmet, along with a female sidekick named Lorelei and bodyguards, went out to center field. The large box containing the collected records was rigged with a bomb. When it exploded, the bomb tore a hole in the outfield grass surface and thousands of fans immediately rushed the field. Some lit fires and started small-scale riots. The batting cage was pulled down and wrecked,[4] and the bases literally stolen, along with chunks of the field itself. The crowd, once on the field, mostly wandered around aimlessly,[5] though a number of participants burned banners, sat on the grass or ran from security and police. People sitting in the upper deck could feel it sway back and forth from the rioters.

Veeck and Caray used the public address system to implore the fans to leave the field immediately, but to no avail. Eventually, the field was cleared by the Chicago Police in riot gear. Six people reported minor injuries and thirty-nine were arrested for disorderly conduct.[6] Tigers' manager Sparky Anderson refused to field his team citing safety concerns, which resulted in the forfeiture by the White Sox to the Tigers. The remaining games in the series were played, but for the rest of the season fielders and managers complained about the poor condition of the field.

For White Sox outfielder Rusty Torres (who had singled and scored the only Chicago run in a 4-1 loss in the first game), it was nothing new: Disco Demolition Night was actually the third time in his career he had personally seen a forfeit-inducing riot. He had been playing for the New York Yankees at the last Senators game in Washington in 1971, and a Cleveland Indian at the infamous Ten Cent Beer Night in Cleveland in 1974.

[MNAFETSC]

I always found it ironic how the one player who was in the thick of it fighting with fans would return and manage that team two world series.