It should be noted that NBC broadcaster Tim Russert said he was at this game. When asked how much beer he drank that night, he simply answered, "I walked in with $2. You do the math."
@pado joe biden Look up Disco Demolition Night, that was like two years later and even crazier; they blew a big hole in the outfield with explosives, and then, again, they rioted.
I was at this game in Cleveland Municipal Stadium. I was only 19 at the time but I remember it like yesterday. I was sitting about 10 rows up behind the Indians dugout and Bob Golic's description in this video doesn't really come close to the level of mayhem in the Stadium. It was thousands of young male drunks who lost all their inhibitions and had no problem running on the field to attack the Texas Rangers. Fortunately, I didn't drink any beer and stayed in my seat but everything around me was complete chaos. I vividly remember that guy who ran on the field and took Jeff Burroughs hat off his head. That basically started the riot. I'm shocked the guy had the balls 40 years later to appear in this video. I also vividly remember Texas manager Billy Martin running out of the Rangers dugout with a bat in his hand and had several of his players running out right behind him with bats in their hands. It was a miracle that nobody was seriously injured. I also remember seeing the umpire with blood running down his head. It seemed like the riot lasted a couple hours but I believe it was only about 30 minutes. Everybody knew the game was over and I believe they announced over the public address system that the Indians had forfeited the game and all the fans had to leave the stadium immediately. I believe there were only a handful of police on duty that night in the stadium when the riot broke out but I remember eventually the Cleveland Police Riot Squad showed up and that really ended everything and all the fans left the stadium.....Just another unforgettable part of growing up in Cleveland during the 70's!
"An organist playing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' will not tame an angry mob." Too funny. And a few years later at Chicago's old Comisky Park we found that disco music can CREATE an angry mob! (lol)
They are doing it in Portlandia. An independent team, the Portland Pickles, is hosting a 10¢ Beer Night… except, instead of getting a 16-ounce or 12-ounce cup, you’ll get just 10 or 20 cc (imagine a NyQuil or Pepto Bismol cup).
Phillies tried something like that with dollar dog night and that eventually got outta control with food fights drunk college kids and throwing dogs at the players on the field. Can't have nice things
Through out the mayhem on the field, the stadium organist kept playing " Take Me Out To The Ball Game ". He savagely played it over and over as the scene devolved into an all out riot.
I have had a "nickel beer night" experience to rival this (actually two). I was stationed on Oahu in 1981. I went to visit a high school chum who was stationed at Pearl Harbor. He was Navy, I was Army. Anyway, we chose to go to the Enlisted Men's Club at Pearl. It happened to be Nickel Beer Night (case of beer for $1.20), at the club, and there were strippers. There was an Australian aircraft carrier (HMAS Melbourne) in port, and there was about 30-50 Aussies in the EM Club. They had with them a kid who may have been about 12-13 years old from the ship. They got him drunk, as were most of the other Aussies. They were all seated around the runway for the strippers. After about four strippers had performed their "act", one dropped her panties in front of this young kid. He picked them up, and popped them into his mouth. She looked down, shrieked, and immediately kicked the kid right in the jaw, turning out his lights. The Aussies went crazy. They tore that club up. We headed for the exits before the Shore Patrol started breaking heads. Three weeks later, My buddy came to visit me, at Barbers Point Naval Station (I was Army on that base; they didn't have room for our Chinooks up at the Schofield/Wheeler complex, so we were based on a Naval Air Station). Same deal, Nickel Beer Night, and the very same group of strippers. Once again, the beer was Coors, and the only difference was Barbers Point only had minimal Shore Patrol, instead they contracted their security out. Anyway, after the party got started, a stripper was doing her act, and some squid (pejorative term for a sailor) jumped on stage, and started his own strip-tease. Some big spender (the only beer being sold for a nickel was Coors in the can) with a bottle, threw it at the stripping sailor, and hit him right between the eyes. It was glorious; a free-for-all that was almost as good as the Pearl Harbor melee. There were about 12 Army guys in the crowd, many with tools in our pockets from pulling services on our aircraft that were parked on the flight-line across the street, and as the civilian rent-a-cops attempted to break up the brawl inside, we took all the light-bars off their rent-a-cop vehicles and set them gently in front of each of their cars. A good time was had by all.
Getting drunk is pretty universal but as an Australian, I can testify to the above. Generally we love absolutely any excuse to get absolutely munted, it's a part of the culture I guess.
One thing I appreciate was when the Indians players went to help out the Rangers players when the fans came on the field. Very family like. Hey, we have our competition, but it’s a brotherhood of players who shouldn’t have had to deal with those drunken fans.
I went to the ballpark all the time in Kansas City and they never cared how old i was, I always got Hamms beer no questions asked. It was an old mob town and wide open. Municipal stadium. Municipal stadiums were always crazy like Cleveland.
Being that it was 1974 the game had to have been videotaped, but the tape was probably quickly erased and reused (they did that all the time back then)...
The Indians' schedule indicates that this game wasn't televised, so that explains the lack of footage. In those days, most weekday games weren't on local tv.
You'll notice at 3:45 It says "Cleveland" at the bottom. Strongly implying the Cleveland stations didn't save any video of this game and it had to have come from another town's station. I'm guessing Dallas/Fort Worth (Texas Rangers town)
I was there that night. This video is pretty much the way I remember it. After 40 years, I still have the image of the guy in front of our row calling to a cop and then throwing a full beer in his face. We left once the field was full of people. We told the mounted police officer as we left the stadium to get ready for a mess. He just shook his head.
John Terrino I was one of those fans. This dime beer night tradition likely started at Milwaukee’s County Stadium. Must’ve been 1971 since I just turned 18 which was the new legal drinking age. Everyone there was insanely drunk. I quit drinking decades ago. Yet I somehow still taste beer whenever I watch pro baseball.
@@albundy6008 That's very true! I do remember there was a picture the next day in the paper. In the bleachers people had put all the empty plastic cups together into one very, very long snake. From what I remember it was quite impressive!
I Remember Listening to This Game as a 10 year old. Couldn't believe that it really happened as Joe Tait and Herb Score doing the Play by Play. CRAZY 😜😜😜😜😧😧
Tom Grieve, a member of the Rangers broadcast and analyst on TV for the team now, was playing in that game and hit 2 HR in the first game of the double header. He's in the Rnagers HOF now for his 11 yrs as a player, 10 yrs as a GM, and 22+ yrs as TV analyst.
Philly has a rep for being a mean ass city but honestly they've been slacking when's the last time philly did some crazy shit? I live in Seattle which is a pussy town full of liberals but at least they rioted when trump supporters held a rally downtown. Philly hasn't done shit you guys are losing your edge just like New York
So nice to see entertainment without a political agenda. Back when life was fun. My bar when I was 18 had nickel for an 8 ounce beer on thursday nights.
I find it amazing that they always focus on this event when they have nothing better to do over at ES'hasbeen. Do you guys remember the Disco blowup in Chicago. Let's talk about that.
The closest thing I have experienced was buck-a-beer night for the MLS team in Columbus, two hours south of Cleveland. It was insane but civilized, and I say that as someone who was hammered before the opening kick.
I was there that night and here's a few items not mentioned in the vid: the Rangers starting pitcher was HOFer, Fergie Jenkins, who took a comeback line drive to his package--and he stayed in the game. The security was a joke--just the waddling rent-a-cop retirees. Gaylord Perry was having a miracle year and he was out on the diamond in the 9th when the riot broke out looking like Angry Dad. Duke Sims had been a catcher for Cleveland for many years and was now on the Rangers, and when he came out to the mound during the riot to administer some punches to a drunken fan I was right next to him--and the old security guard knew Sims and was saying, "Duke, no..."
When I was in college in Macon Ga, in the mid 70's the Braves would have nickel beer night. All the frats and sororities would drive to Atlanta to party. I remember on the way back stopping at an on ramp on the highway so some of the guys could piss when we got hit by a flashlight beam from the Henry County Sheriff department. One of the guys got smart with the cop and they pulled a shotgun on him. I was sober enough to tell the cops that I just wanted to get the drunk guys home and they let us go. Don't mess with Henry County cops!
3:45 Notice the bottom of the screen has the word "Cleveland" I.E. the local stations destroyed any video evidence (out of embarrassment) so ESPN had to use the archive of another town's station (probably Arlington, Cincy or Detroit) to get any footage.
Back in the '80's there was a club in my town that would have " nickel nite" .5 cent beers and you'd go there with 3 dollars and get hammered and leave a tip lol
