In the summer of 1974, the Cleveland Indians were not a very good team and their owner was thinking of every way possible to get fans in the seats. How about this for an idea: 10-cent Beer Night? All you can drink for just 10-cents a cup. What could go wrong?
To the 9th inning we go and after a game highlighted with fans jumping onto the field, many of them in their birthday suits, the chaos turned into complete bedlam. Rangers Outfielder Jeff Burroughs was being harassed in right field by fans who were surrounding him. His manager Billy Martin led the "Charge of the Light Brigade" with his players rushing out of the dugout... bats in hand.
Seats were being thrown from the top deck onto the field. 60,000 cups of beer had been purchased and the results of that were now evident. It was a full-scale riot.
Milt Wilcox pitched the top of the 9th inning for the Indians and tells us how some of his "connected" friends kept him out of harms way while Cleveland writer Vince Guerreri, author of the book, "Weird Moments in Clebeland Sports" tells us that despite the comeplete bedlam this wasn't the first time they held the promotion... and shockingly... it wouldn't be the last...
Wilcox and Guerreri have stories you will not believe on one of the craziest nights in the history of baseball...
10-cent Beer Night on the Past Our Prime podcast
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