Sat 6/1 @ noon
An important anniversary in the history of Cleveland baseball occurs this week, and Cleveland’s Baseball Heritage Museum will be hosting a celebration.
When the Cleveland Indians played the Texas Rangers in the old lakefront stadium 50 years ago this week, on June 4, 1974, it had a special promotion to try to fill seats in the monstrously large stadium: it was offering cups of low-alcohol beer (remember 3.2 beer, anyone?) for just ten cents — about 65 cents in today’s money.
Turns out that didn’t work out so well. Apparently, Indians fans drank a LOT of cups of cheap beer and they were already worked up because of a brawl between the two teams the previous week.
Wikipedia vividly describes what happened next: “As the game proceeded, on-field incidents and massive alcohol consumption further agitated the audience, many of whom threw lit firecrackers*, steaked across the playing field [1974 was the peak of the streaking fad — running naked through an event], and openly smoked marijuana. Most sober fans departed early, leaving an increasingly drunk and unruly mob behind.”
[*Wikipedia says “it is not clear why” fans brought firecrackers. In fact, tossing firecrackers had become regular occurrence at rock concerts since the early 70s. Many of these were probably the same people who tossed them at Led Zeppelin concerts.]
This probably didn’t help the situation: “Early on, the demand for beer surpassed the Indians’ capacity to ferry it to concession stands, and a luminary, perhaps the same person who suggested the promotion in the first place, decided to allow fans to line up behind the outfield fences and have their cups filled directly from Stroh’s company trucks.”
Sounds like a good time! Oh wait: in the ninth inning fans rushed the playing field, some armed with chains, rocks, bottles, folding chairs and pieces of the seats they’d ripped up, and the game was halted as the players escaped the mob coming after them. The Indians had to forfeit the game to Texas. As icing on the cake, sportswriter Dan Coughlin was punched in the face twice when he tried to interview “fans.”
Vince Guerrieri, author of the 2022 book Weird Moments in Cleveland Sports, will host a Ten Cent Beer Night 50th Anniversary Presentation at Goldhorn Brewery, sponsored by the Baseball Heritage Museum. Each paid ticket will get one (ONE!) free Goldhorn beer, and the others won’t be ten cents! If you were actually at the game, bring your ticket stub, if you didn’t lose it in the melee, along with your first-person story, and you’ll be eligible for a prize. Each event ticket also includes a one-year membership to the Baseball Heritage Museum.
Get tickets here.
Cleveland, OH 44103
One Response to “Baseball Heritage Museum Program Marks 50th Anniversary of “Ten Cent Beer Night””
Scott Jarrett
I just wrote and published TEN CENT BEER NIGHT. Thanks for telling folks about it. I’ll be in Cleveland next weekend but (unfortunately) not until Sunday. Thanks, Scott Jarrett