Happy 35th Anniversary, 10-cent Beer Night

(Bill Gurstelle is guest blogging here on Boing Boing. He is the author of books including Backyard Ballistics, and the recently-published Absinthe and Flamethrowers. Follow him on Twitter: @wmgurst.)

35 years ago today, on June 4, 1974, one of the most infamous events in sports history occurred. In 1974, the Cleveland Indians played at the extremely capacious Municipal Stadium. Unfortunately, the '74 team was mediocre at best, so there weren't many fans (about 8000 was normal) and the place often looked deserted. The Cleveland brain trust hit on what they thought was a great idea to increase attendance - 10 cent beer night.

Well, beer night worked. Lots of people did show up, about 25,000 in fact. The Tribe took on the Texas Rangers that evening. The box score shows the Rangers surged to a 5-1 lead in the early innings. The fans took it harder than normal since they had been drinking cup after 10¢ cup of Strohs beer pretty much since the gates opened. According to Wikipedia:

. . . the crowd in attendance continually misbehaved. A woman ran out to the Indians' on-deck circle and flashed her breasts, and a naked man sprinted to second base as Grieve hit his second home run of the game. A father and son pair ran onto the outfield and mooned the fans in the bleachers one inning later. The ugliness escalated when Cleveland's Leron Lee hit a line drive into the stomach of Rangers pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, after which Jenkins dropped to the ground. The fans in the upper deck of Municipal Stadium cheered, then chanted "Hit 'em again! Hit 'em again! Harder! Harder!"

As the game progressed, more fans ran onto the field and caused problems. Ranger Mike Hargrove (who would manage the Indians and lead them to the World Series 21 years later) was pelted with hot dogs and spit, and at one point was nearly struck with an empty gallon jug of Thunderbird.

By the time the ninth inning rolled around, a full fledged riot broke out. Umpire Nestor Shylak, (my all time favorite umpire by the way) after dodging rocks and ripped out stadium seats forfeited the game to Texas.

There have been no more unlimited 10-cent beer nights since.

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building39

I was an avid Texas Rangers fan at the time (now I live in Houston…). I remember this game. One of the local (Fort Worth) radio personalities proposed that the Rangers one-up the Tribe with a “Hand Gun and Hard Liquor Night” at Arlington Stadium.
Anonymous

The Miami Hash House Harriers celebrated this last night:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MiamiH3/cal///group/MiamiH3?v=4&t=1244140200&i=2923&pv=2

MH3 #30 – 35th Analversary of the “Ten Cent Beer Night” Riot
Date: Thursday June 4, 2009
Time: 6:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Author: vivalaslab
Type: Club Event
Location: Orange Bowl site: future location of the new Marlin’s stadium
Hare: Stop the Bus
Time: 6:30 Happy Hour, Hare away at 7pm
Cost: $5 plus a few dimes

Ten Cent Beer Night was an ill-fated promotion held by the 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 10Â¢ apiece.

By the bottom of the ninth, the score tied at five runs apiece, and with a crowd that had been consuming as much alcohol as it could for nine innings, the situation finally boiled over.

A fan attempted to steal an outfielder’s cap, causing the player to trip. Thinking his player was attacked, Texas manager Billy Martin charged onto the field with the rest of his team, wielding bats, right behind. A large number of intoxicated fans â€“ some armed with knives, chains, and portions of stadium seats that they had torn apart â€“ surged onto the field. The Indians’ manager ordered _his_ players to grab bats and help the Rangers. Rioters in the stands and on the field began hurling cups, rocks, bottles, batteries from radios, hot dogs, popcorn containers, and steel folding chairs. Fistfights broke out as the players tried to retreat to the dugouts. All the while, the announcers gleefully called the riot live on radio.

Later that season, the American League president changed the Beer Night policy from unlimited amounts to a limit of four cups per person commenting, “There was no question that beer played a part in the riot.” [source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Cent_Beer_Night ]

The Commissioner of Beisbol has repealed the four-beer limit for one night only, so cum “wave it round at the crowd” with the Miami Hash House Harriers. On On!
Anonymous

This reminds me of a game I went to at Candlestick Park–Giants vs. Braves, I believe? The Giants decided, brilliantly, to give out commemorative baseballs printed with the faces of their starting players to all the fans. Predictably, once the crowd was good and drunk, they started throwing the balls at the umpires, the opposing team, Giants team members who committed errors, and each other. If I recall correctly, that game was called a forfeit by the umpires, too.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why they give out scarves and balloons these days.
bobsch

The details, such as the date and the price of the beer, are gone from my memory, but the remembrance of a similar event at a Padres game here in San Diego is still there. Of course, the results were similar and it never happened again.
Anonymous

God, I love Cleveland!
ill lich

I was hoping someone would bring up “Disco Demolition Night.”

There were details on 10-cent-beer-night that I always heard about– like they tried to cut off the beer at some point and that just made it worse, and supposedly tons of bikers showed up and (of course) “hilarity ensued.”

In a sense the idea could have worked if they just modified the concept– rather than 10-cent beer, just issue one or two “free beer” tickets when you entered the stadium, and after that they have to purchase at the typically high prices for stadiums.
TheCrawNotTheCraw

@12,

“A local punk rock bar in Cleveland called Now That’s Class (yes, i’m pretty sure the irony was intentional”

I was “always” disappointed that there was no punk band named “Bright Future.”
danbanana

you guys are all missing the best part: at a game where beer was TEN CENTS, someone snuck in a jug of t-bird! how cheap does the team have to sell booze before you don’t feel it necessary to bring your own? and then throw it at someone?
cubejockey

It was like an outdoor bonfire party and Cleveland was the backyard. The following morning you would see men waking up on the sidewalks, still in their suits.
InsertFingerHere

Last summer, we had a ‘Sharpie’ give-away night, everyone got Sharpies at the ballpark. End of the night the facility was covered in writing and graffiti. Bathroom stalls, seats, walls…

Next weekend is ‘Thermite Nite’, so that should be very interesting.
merreborn

Providing thousands of people with a practically unlimited supply of beer?

What could possibly go wrong?
Anonymous

Sounds like any old day at a Brazilian futbol match. I fully endorse such spirited fanaticism!
Anonymous

I didn’t even know Thunderbird came in gallon jugs.
Anonymous

Next time they need to have FREE WEED night.

You won’t have any of these problems.
Anonymous

@30: Except when it’s time to try and get everyone to get up and go home.
Anonymous

But a good time was had by all, thats why we are all talking about it now.
Takuan

meh. In Japan you have hordes getting shit-faced and no violence. They don’t have to go together.
merreborn

meh. In Japan you have hordes getting shit-faced and no violence. They don’t have to go together.

Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t mean to suggest that the events of the night were bound to go the way they did.

Only that when you get that many people that drunk, SOMETHING’s gonna happen.
Takuan

why can’t they all just giggle and throw up?
apoxia

There’s no way that could have predicted that one.
Anonymous

You left out the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) part: The final riot began with the Rangers storming the field, bats in hand, to defend one of their players from the crowd. After he saw that the Rangers’ lives may very well be in danger, the Cleveland manager ordered his team to grab bats and defend the Rangers from the crazed mob. I wish that the TV broadcast feed hadn’t been cut after the initial instigation, I would love to see video of it (for purely historical interest, of course).
Tom Hale

Takuan, Beer + a Lot of people = a fight – except in Japan.

a lot of people + giggling + throwing up = fair/amusement park rides.
TK

With good judgment, they could’ve done it with o’douls.
tenner

I hadn’t heard about this wonderful evening until the days after Tim Russert’s death.

Russert claimed to have been in attendance. When asked about the events of the evening, he said:

“I went with $2 in my pocket. You do the math.”

Genius.
Boba Fett Diop

One of the best lines from 30 Rock this year:

“I have seats between the players’ wives and the players’ mistresses. I don’t go on bat days.”

And in Japan you don’t have riots, but you have to dodge salaryman puke all the way home.
hackedbychinese

I love my city, even though the rest of the world seems to hate it.

It seems that a number of bars celebrated this event tonight. A local punk rock bar in Cleveland called Now That’s Class (yes, i’m pretty sure the irony was intentional), they had Stroh’s for $.10. Absolutely glorious.
Anonymous

They should have gone with $1 joint night.
jaytkay

In commemoration, I suggest a special game.
– Reds vs. White Sox
– Ten cent beer
– On-field disco record demolition
Kehaar

It is obvious the manager of promotions wanted to be canned, but in canning him/her, there was a nice parachute package. Incentive=early vacation money
dross1260

Forwarded to Dad for response, as he travelled then:
“It was about that time that I went to a cleveland Game ,there were less than 5,000 people in the stands….. the old stadium was the largest in baseball and could seat just over 100,000…. with less than 5,000 people, it was like watching the game alone.”
Anonymous

No world series since ’48 but we sure got .10 beer night!

We should try this with the Cavs next year.
klenow

We’re all avoiding the obvious question here.

Who the hell went to 10 cent beer night and thought, “You know, I need to bring some Thunderbird along with me, because there is no WAY I’m blowing $2 to get sloshed.”
Xander Crews

“There have been no more unlimited 10-cent beer nights since.”

Note the Florida Marlins… PLEASE!
forgeweld

Disco Demoliton Night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-fEtF9NKfc

I had forgotten about the guys climbing (and bending) the foul pole.
JJR1971

slightly OT, but at the grad student co-op bar (all volunteer run) I ‘worked’ at in grad school (and as an alumnus), the bartenders were all “paid” with “penny hours”, i.e. one hour of penny beer for every hour volunteered behind the bar previously in the week. Usually enjoyed the hour after one’s own shift, for the sake of simplicity. It was pretty sweet. Pearl Bock & Pearl Draft on tap.

Regular price for other grad students and local weirdos: $.35

This was back in the mid 1990s.
I tended to spend more nights per week drunk than sober in grad school; I only got away with it (sort of) because I was in a humanities field.

Very fun 3 years of my life, avoiding the real world just a bit longer.
Captain Squiffy

“meh. In Japan you have hordes getting shit-faced and no violence. They don’t have to go together.”

Yeah, but where’s the fun?

If anyone thinks that 10 cent beer created problems, you should have gone to dollar beer nigh at the Philadelphia Flyers during the “Broad Street Bullies” days. On ice, the Flyers were a malevolent force. In the stands, from above, it looked like a milling wave of drunken chaos, fights starting and stopping, escalating then ending as blood-drenched combatants fell to the floor, mopping up the piss and gore with their Bobby Clark jerseys.

Here’s the difference between Cleveland and my town. Nobody ever though to end it. Beer night went on forever.
kobrakai

So alcohol is legal but marijuana isn’t. What would’ve happened if everyone had been stoned? Not a riot I’m sure.
dane

So . . . you’re saying that joint night in Tokyo would be a guaranteed sleeper?
ill lich

“A large number of intoxicated fans â€“ some armed with knives, chains, and portions of stadium seats that they had torn apart â€“ surged onto the field, and others hurled bottles from the stands.”

Knives and chains? Sounds like there was a contingent of bikers at that game.
Anonymous

Jaytkay, just wondering why you have the White Sox vs. the Reds for another 10 cent bear night. The White Sox did have Disco Demolition a few years later, but I’m curious about the Reds. Disco Demolition was another event you knew was going to get weird. I went with a friend of mine and we expected the place to go crazy. The place was packed with “bad little CoHos” (you know who you are). I was sitting just behind a poor family that was there for the actual game. Mom & Dad were freaked, the 12-13 year old daughter was nervous and the 10 year old son kept saying “Cool”.