Ten Cent Beer Night
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Ten Cent Beer Night was an ill-fated promotion held by the American League's Cleveland Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium on June 4, 1974.
The idea behind the promotion was to offer as many eight-ounce cups of Stroh's beer as the fans could drink for just ten cents apiece, thus increasing ticket sales. However, the stunt also had the effect of slowly turning the calm and orderly baseball fans into a rowdy and raucous crowd devoid of all inhibition. Ultimately, the game was forfeited to Texas on the orders of home plate umpire Nestor Chylak because of the crowd's uncontrollable rowdiness, and because the game could not be resumed in a timely manner.
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[edit] Background
The game had a special significance for both clubs, as there had been a bench-clearing brawl in a Rangers/Indians game one week earlier at Arlington Stadium in Texas, during a "cheap beer night" there.[1] In Texas, the trouble had started in the bottom of the fourth inning with a walk to the Rangers' Tom Grieve, followed by a Lenny Randle single.
The next batter hit a double play ball to Cleveland third baseman John Lowenstein; he stepped on the third base bag to retire Grieve, but Randle disrupted the play with a hard slide into Brohamer. The Indians retaliated in the bottom of the eighth when pitcher Milt Wilcox threw behind Randle's head. Randle laid down a bunt, and when Wilcox attempted to field it and tag Randle out, Randle hit him with a forearm.
John Ellis responded by decking Randle, and both benches emptied for a brawl. During the melee, the intoxicated Texas crowd grew rowdy, and threw beer on the Indians' players.
Six days later, an Indians promotion to sell cheap beer that night induced over 25,000 fans (the previous season's average was 8,000) to come to Municipal Stadium that night.
[edit] The Game
Early in the game, the Rangers took an early 5-1 advantage. Meanwhile, throughout the contest, the Indians' fans in attendance continually misbehaved. A woman ran out to the Indians' on-deck circle and lifted her shirt, and a naked man sprinted to second base as Grieve hit his second home run. A father and son team got into the act one inning later, running out in the outfield and mooning the bleacherites.[2] The ugliness escalated when Cleveland's Leron Lee hit a line drive into the stomach of Ferguson Jenkins, dropping the hurler to the ground. The fans in the upper deck of Cleveland Stadium cheered, then chanted, "Hit 'em again! Hit 'em again! Harder! Harder!"
As the game progressed, and the crowd became more inebriated, more fans ran onto the field and caused problems. Mike Hargrove, who had come in at mid-game, was the target of hot dogs and spit, and at one point, was very nearly hit with an empty gallon jug of Thunderbird wine.
The Rangers later argued a call in which Lee was called safe in a close play at third, spiking Jenkins in the process and forcing him to leave the game. Texas' anger enraged fans, who began throwing objects on the field.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Indians managed to rally and tie the game at five runs apiece, but with a crowd that had been consuming as much alcohol as it could for nine innings, the situation finally boiled over. After Texas outfielder Jeff Burroughs violently reacted to a fan stealing his glove and cap, the Texas players, led by manager Billy Martin, charged out to his aid with other members of his team onto the field with bats to defend the players against an avalanche of drunken fans pouring onto the field or hurling bottles from the stands. As soon as they arrived, hundreds of fans poured into the outfield, some armed with knives, chains and portions of stadium seats that they had broken apart. Realizing the Rangers might be in danger of their lives, Ken Aspromonte, the Indians' manager, ordered his players to grab bats and help the Rangers. Fans began throwing steel folding chairs and Cleveland relief pitcher Tom Hilgendorf was hit in the head by one of them.[3] Mike Hargrove, involved in a fight with a fan, had to fight yet another on his way back to the Texas dugout. It was becoming obvious that the game could not continue. Every base was stolen as souvenirs, any apparently the bases were kept and never returned and many fans threw a vast array of objects, such as cups, rocks, radio batteries, hot dogs, popcorn containers, and even several chairs. As a result, umpire crew chief Nestor Chylak, realizing that order would not be restored in a timely fashion, forfeited the game to Texas. He, too, was a victim of the fans as one hit him with part of a stadium seat, cutting him in the head.[4] He also was cut in the hand by a rock.
As Joe Tait and Herb Score called the riot on radio, Herb Score mentioned the lack of police protection and Cleveland's best riot police then came on the scene.
Later that season, the team's promotion of three additional beer nights were changed from unlimited amounts to a limit of four beers per person. American League president Lee McPhail commented, "There was no question that beer played a part in the riot." [4]
[edit] Historical Significance
The forfeit was the first in Major League Baseball since the Washington Senators' final game at RFK Stadium against the New York Yankees on September 30, 1971. Fans, angered at the team's impending move to Dallas-Fort Worth (the Senators were to become the Texas Rangers in 1972), stormed the field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and vandalized the stadium.[5] Another game would not be forfeited in Major League Baseball until July 12, 1979, when the second game of a doubleheader between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park in Chicago was forfeited during Disco Demolition Night, an equally ill-fated promotional idea.
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
- ^ Smiley, Bobby (July 30, 2004). Another Mistake By The Lake. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
- ^ Robinson, James G. 10-Cent Beer Night. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
- ^ Week of May 31: The Night the Beer Came Out in Cleveland. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
- ^ a b Johnson, Scot (June 6, 2006). This Week in Baseball History: Ten Cent Beer Night. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
- ^ Leventhal, Josh (2000). Take Me Out to the Ballpark: An Illustrated Tour of Baseball Parks Past and Present. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. ISBN 1-57912-112-8.
