Many thanks to Andrew yesterday for reminding me of an anniversary that otherwise would have slipped by me.June 4, 1974: The Ten Cent Beer Night Riot at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. For those of you who aren't baseball fans reared in Northeast Ohio, here's how it went down: Texas Rangers at Cleveland Indians. Cleveland was suffering through the latest in a long series of mediocre seasons and needed something to draw fans to the park, having been averaging a mere 8,000 per game up to that point. Some bright mind proposed a 10 cent beer promotion and 25,000 fans heeded the call, consuming an estimated 60,000 beers. One thing led to another (there was some bad blood between the two teams stemming from a slight brawl a week earlier) and things started to get rowdy. Then they got out of control. Then that guy in the picture and bunch of guys just like him got down on the field and bled all over the umpires and they had to call the game (it was tied 5-5 in the 9th, but for some reason they awarded Cleveland the loss - go figure).
I wouldn't even be born for another 7 years, but I heard stories. Oh, how I heard stories. Makes me proud to be an American, and even more proud to be a Midwesterner.
4 comments:
Don't forget your roots, man.
What do you think would happen if they did 10 cent beer night during the Lakers and Celtics finals?
I have a feeling that people would die. Of alcohol poisoning. And other things.
From one Midwesterner to another - cheers!
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