An Old Timey Podcast - 49: Cleveland’s Chaotic 10-Cent Beer Night

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

In the summer of 1974, the Cleveland Indians had a big problem. Hardly anyone showed up for their games. It was embarrassing! So, the team’s management brainstormed ways to get butts in seats. Ultimately, they opted to host a handful of 10-cent beer nights. They hoped that the cheap beer would draw people to the stadium. The good news? The plan worked! The bad news? It was pandemonium! Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Kristin pulled from: “Fifty years later, the chaos of Cleveland’s 10-cent beer night still shocks,” by Zack Meisel for The New York Times “10 cent beer night: An oral history of Cleveland baseball’s most infamous night,” by Vince Guerrieri for Cleveland Magazine “The night beer and violence bubbled over in Cleveland,” by Paul Jackson for espn.com “10-Cent Beer Night: A look back,” video by Sports & Extras Network “Ten Cent Beer Night Was A Total Disaster,” YouTube video by Weird History Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts! Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

Hear ye, hear ye. You are listening to an old-timey podcast. I'm Kristen Caruso. And I'm Norman Caruso. And on this episode, I'll be talking about 10-cent beer night. Oh, I know this story. Do you really? I hate that you know this story. My dad told me about this long time ago. He said it was a legendary night in Major League Baseball. Did your dad attend this event? No, he did not. Well, damn, that kind of just cut that story off at the knees. You know what, Norm, I'd barely recognize you right now because you have new glasses. And if I had it my way, people who wear glasses would never be allowed to get new glasses

because for the first week that they have the new glasses, I always flip out. Do you think I look better or worse? No, I love the new glasses. I mean, you know, I was there. I helped you pick them out. I'm just saying I'm like a dog when somebody has a hat on. You started barking at me when I put him on. That's right. That's right.

Yeah. I'm still getting used to him, too. I told you that I feel like I look like Mark David Chapman, the guy that killed John Lennon. Yeah, I had to. Same glasses. But like, I don't know. They're different. I wanted to change up my look.

I wanted to look different. You wanted to look like a murderer. I wanted to kill a pop star. Okay. That's enough of that. No, but it was funny. to me that you said that guy's name and expected me to know not only who that was, but have a picture in my head of what that man looked like.

Norm, do you have a Patreon plug for us? You big backed boy? I do. I do. Folks, if you enjoy what we're doing here and want to help out a small, sexy, independent podcast, please consider supporting us over on patreon.com slash old-timey podcast. Kristen, did you know for just $5 a month? You'll get access to our monthly bonus episodes.

with full video? Norm, in fact, I did know that because, as a matter of fact, I am your co-host on this show, and I know all kinds of stuff like this. You're supposed to pretend like I'm blowing your mind here. Holy shit! But Kristen, the real party is at the $10 pig butter investor tier. Get in on the hottest new dairy product on the market.

You'll get bonus episodes, assign card and stickers, early ad-free video episodes, access to our monthly trivia parties, 10% off all merch, and ad-free episodes. of Kristen's old podcast, Let's go to court. Now, Norm, what do people do if they say to themselves,

geez, I don't want to support John Lennon's murderer? Well. How do they get past that? Well, let me assure you that I am not Mark David Chapman. Oh, okay. I am Normy C. I'm a non-threatening boy. I would never hurt anybody.

Right. So if you want to support the glitzy, glammy boys like myself, head on over to patreon.com slash old-timey podcast and sign up. Thank you. And Norm, I can tell you just want me to get going on this story. You're like, mm-mm-mm, 10-cent beer, say no more, or actually, no, do say more. Tell it to me right now is what you're saying. Right. But I shan't. I shan't yet. Because you sharded. Hey, no, that's none of your business. Instead, we have an ad. Doodaloo. This episode of an old-timey podcast is brought to you by Alloy Women's Health.

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and enter code OTP to get $20 off your first order. And now we're back from the ad. Do-D-D-D-L-L-U-D-D-L-U. Okay, 10-cent beer night, Kristen. Are you excited? I'm actually shocked you chose to cover this. Why? Why? Well, because you're not a big sports person, that's all.

You're currently wearing a t-shirt that says, I just hope both teams have fun. And I do. And I hate to say it, but I don't think both teams did have fun at this 10-cent beer night that I'm about to tell you about. I will say I don't know the details of this. I just am aware that there was a 10-cent beer night, and it did not go well. Okay, well, get ready for some details, big boy. Here we go. First off, I want to acknowledge something that you rudely brought up before I could even acknowledge my own weakness.

And that is that I'm about to tell a sports story. Anyone who knows me well knows that this is fucking hilarious. But in a more real sense, I want everyone to know that actually I'm the perfect person to tell a sports story. Why is that? Because I am proficient in sports. and I myself have attended several baseball games. You have, yeah, we've gone to some Royals games. In other words, you're in good hands, catcher's hands.

And I am about to knock this story out of the park. Very good. Thank you. Now, Norm, if I didn't know shit about baseball, how could I say those two things? Hmm? Think on that. I feel like I want to test your knowledge of baseball. Do it. You won't stump me. You won't strike me out.

See, I can, this is the sound of the listeners being impressed. People in their cars are like, oh, my God. Okay, may I ask you a baseball question? Go ahead. Okay. Prepare to be embarrassed. Let's say. Don't make it too complicated. Let's say a guy hits a ball and it lands in the outfield, but then it bounces over the wall. Uh-huh. What is that called?

We call that an oopsie-dazy. Oopsy-Dazy. And how many bases does the batter get for doing that? Okay, well, first let's start with what it isn't. It's not a home run, okay? It's not a home run. I'm sorry to tell you, it's not a home run because it landed there in the field. Now, it didn't get caught, which is what we call a fly ball when it gets caught, right?

Or a pop-up? That's pop-up. Yeah, fly-out, sure. Yeah. Okay. Hey, give me some credit. Yeah, that's a fly-out. So, okay, you said it, oopsie daisy, bounces in the outfield, goes over the wall.

We let them get on first base for that, and we say, good job, fella. Really? What's it called? It's actually called a ground rule double. Oh, I was never going to get that. That is the rudest, that is the rudest first question you could have possibly asked me, Norm. For balls and strikes, how many balls before you get to take your base? Well

You know how a batter You know a pitcher Throws balls and strikes Yes I understand the equipment So how many How many How many balls Before the batter

Gets to take first base Because you know The pitcher is supposed to throw strikes Yes I understand So how many balls But if they throw three balls Then you get to walk your Happy little ass to first base

It's actually four Well it's yeah on the fourth Oh I see But he throws three Try to keep up, okay, Norm. This is going to be really fun. Try to keep up. I will admit.

I will admit. So I have known about this story for a long time. I've always loved it. It is chaotic. It is ridiculous. I can't believe this actually happened. But I've been afraid to cover it because of the sports. And I just decided, you know what?

I'm going to do it, baby. I can understand sports. It's not that hard. 11-year-olds play this game. That's right. And so I wrote it up. And today I was looking at it over and I was like, the sports part of this doesn't make any goddamn sense. Don't worry.

I'm here. No, no, no, no, no. I figured it out. Okay, good. I had accidentally, and this is a big blunderer, this is what we call an oopsie-dazy lands in the field pops over the wall. I had mixed up two players thinking they played for the Rangers. They actually played for the Cleveland Indians. And boy, when you're trying to tell a story about who's winning a game, that will mess you up all kinds of ways.

You would have thought that I had a bunch of 10-cent beers in me. But don't worry, I'm pretty sure this script is error-free. Okay. Here we go. I do think they should change ground rule doubles to oopsie daisies. Yeah, we all think that. Round rule doubles doesn't even roll off the tongue. I say we start a petition.

Well, you know, we'll get around to it. Okay. All right. It was the summer of 1974. And the Cleveland Indians were in a bit of a pickle. Kristen, Cleveland Indians. Don't you mean the Cleveland Guardians? Yes.

Yes. They probably never, well, and by probably, I mean, definitely never should have been called the Cleveland Indians. And that's me from Kansas City. We've got the chiefs. It's okay. They were called the Cleveland Indians in 1970. I'm just telling you, I feel weird about it too, if anyone else is feeling weird about it. So they're in a bit of a pickle.

See, the team kind of sucked. Mm-hmm. And attendance at the games was just awful, like embarrassingly awful, because Cleveland Municipal Stadium was capable of holding, like, 74,000 people. Okay, a lot of people. Norman, how many people do you think showed up at a typical home game? around this time. 3,000. Oh, okay, well, they were doing better than that.

My God. 15,000. It was a little under 10,000 usually. Yeah, that's not too good. Although... It's terrible. In a venue that holds 74,000 people, you've got like 8,000 people.

It's just specks of people. There's some teams today that pull those kinds of numbers, too. Like, the Tampa Bay raise, they can't get anybody to go to those games. Wow, you know what? The Tampa Bay Rays, They all got together in the locker room to listen to this episode, and they had no idea that you were just going to spank their bare butts like this. How embarrassing. They know I'm right.

They didn't want to hear it, though. I'm tough on this podcast. I don't hold back. Oh, wow. I'm the judge duty of podcasts. That's right. Norm, it was so embarrassing. When that stadium had been built, it had been the biggest stadium in all of America.

Really? Yes. Wow. I didn't know that. Well, get ready to learn some stuff. It was built in the 30s. Okay, that's the end of that lesson. People had great hopes for it.

But by 1974, it was no longer this big, wonderful place. It was mostly just an empty place where if you squinted real hard, you might see some baseball happening. Damn. Now that's insulting. Agreed. And the Cleveland Indians needed to do something to get. butts in seats. So Cleveland Indians executive vice president Ted Bonda asked the board to come up with a plan to drive up attendance. And boy, did they. Weirdly, uh, no one really wants to take credit for this

idea now. But we do know for sure that at the time, somebody said, what if we host a 10 cent beer night? People can show up, enjoy the game, and drink beer for just 10 cents a pop. What? What? could go wrong. A lot could go wrong. What's the cost of a beer running in 1974? About 65 cents normally. Okay. So that's a pretty steep discount then.

Sure is. Sure is. That is, what is that? I'm so bad at math. And I'm even worse. So it's rude. 80% off? Sure.

Yeah. Pretty good. It would be like, it'd be like instead of a $15. can of beer, it's like $3. So adjusted for inflation, 10 cent beer night today would be 68 cent beer night for a 12 ounce glass of beer. Wow. Ridiculous. Yeah, you could drink a lot of beer. Everyone seemed to like the idea. They had to do something to get people to come out to the ballpark and cheap beer might just do the trick. Worth noting, though, 10 cent beer was not an

original idea. The Texas Rangers had done it. Turned out fine. The Milwaukee Brewers had done it. It turned out fine. Really? The Houston Astros had done it. It turned out fine. The Minnesota Twins, Gary and Larry had done it. They got shit-faced, but also the baseball team, the Minnesota twins had done it. And it turned out fine. Wow, you know, that joke really did not get the roar of laughter I was hoping for. It took me, I was following. I was following. I was following. along. It was so sophisticated. Yeah. The idea that the Minnesota twins would be two wasted dudes. Just two guys. Yeah. I did not know this was an unoriginal idea. I didn't know other teams did it. I thought Cleveland was at the forefront. I thought they were the trendsetters. On the contrary, darling. In fact, the Cleveland Indians themselves had done a nickel beer night just a few years earlier. And guess what? Everything had turned out fine. Hmm.

Truth was, 10-cent beer events were kind of popular in Cleveland. In fact, around the time that the Cleveland Indians were talking about this idea, there had already been three recent events in downtown Cleveland that had all offered 10-cent beer. And at each of those events, everything had turned out fine. What were the events? The art show? Mm-hmm. The rib cook-off?

Finger-licking good. The All Nations Festival? Guten Tog! Okay, well, those all sound... What? Okay. They all sound what? I feel, okay, maybe the rib festival could get a little out of hand, but all the others

seem very mild and kind of boring, to be honest. Wow. Wow. Tell me you've never been ass over applesau at an art show without telling me you've never been ass over applesau said an art show. I have never been. But okay, the other baseball teams, they've all done this before. Right, yeah. The Indians have done this before a few years earlier. Mm-hmm. There's no need to fret, darling. Yeah, that's true. You wouldn't think anything of it. So the Cleveland Indians had every reason to believe that a 10-cent beer night would be a, you know,

mildly exciting way to get people into the ballpark. But sports, some, Sometimes they bring out emotions. Sometimes folks forget that what's important is that both teams have fun. You are 100% right on that. People get emotional about sports. Norm, have the dolphins ever made you cry? Um, not cry, but I definitely sours my mood when they lose for sure. I regret to inform you that in the first of three play days,

that the Indians had with the Texas Rangers, things did not go well, okay? I will recap it for you now. Okay. In the first game of the series, a fellow named Gaylord Perry pitched for the Cleveland Indians, and Rangers' plury Lenny Randall

got a couple hits off the guy, okay? And the Rangers ultimately won the game, but Lenny was not what we would call a gracious winner. And so, when he was interviewed by the media, he talked a bit of shit. He said that Gay Lord Perry was all washed up, and he was only good because he did the spitball.

And I guess that was bad. It sounds gross. Yeah, I think spitballs are now banned in Major League Baseball. Sure. I did briefly look into Gay Lord Perry's history, and he has evidently written some book called Me and Spitty or something. I don't know. I don't think he ran that by a team.

Me and Spitty? It's something ridiculous. The children's book? What is it? God, I hope not. So Gaylord and Lenny had beef, which meant that all their little friends also had beef. Okay, you understand the dynamic here? Then came the next play date.

Twas May 29th, 1974, the Cleveland Indians once again played the Rangers in Arlington, Texas. And that night, the beef got even beefier. Wait, they're playing in Arlington? Yeah, I believe so. Don't make me lose my confidence. I'm pretty sure. Rangers, right? I'm pretty sure it said Arlington. Yeah, but I'm sorry. I thought they were playing in municipal stadium in Cleveland. I thought it was a home game. They're going to. Just hold your

horses. I told you this was a series. This is such a confusing story. It's a series of playdates. Don't worry. And the beef's getting beefier. I don't know how much more clear I can be. We usually don't call baseball games play dates when they're just a baseball game or they play a series. Well, I think once you hear how these fellas treated one another, you'll agree they weren't all super mature, okay? Okay. Now, coincidentally, that night, the Rangers were hosting their own 10-cent beer night. Oh. So everyone's kind of walking in with a bad attitude.

But by the eighth inning, it was bad, bad, real bad. And when Rangers player Lenny Randall came up to bad, oh, it was on, baby. See, Cleveland Indians pitcher Milt Wilcox wanted to get a little revenge on behalf of his good pal, Gaylord Perry, who was definitely not washed up. So, Milt threw the first pitch about two feet behind Lenny Randall just to be a dick. We all know he shouldn't have done it. That's what you call Bush League. What? Bush League.

Is that what they call it? Yeah. Are you making up terms? No, Bush League. Okay, well, we don't like it. We don't like the spitballs or the bushes. We hate it. So on the second pitch, Lenny Randall bunted and Milt Wilcox ran to cover first base.

And Lenny, like a little scamp, ran inside the baseline and boom, knocked Milt Wilcox to the ground. Yep, that's Bush League too. Is Bush League just anything we don't like in baseball? Basically, yeah. Specifically to baseball? Yeah, I think it's specific to baseball. So when they do the hot dog race at Kaufman Stadium. and they don't put real fellas in the costumes,

but instead do it all digital. That's Bush League? I mean, that's not part of a baseball game. It should be. Let's count it, sure. We'll say it's Bush League. So Lenny knocks milk to the ground. To quote, Rangers' first baseman Mike Hargrove,

quote, Lenny just knocked him ass over tea kettle. Ass over tea kettle? I love that. I prefer ass... What does that mean? I prefer ass over applesauce myself. ass over tea kettle means you just you know you really got it

see we're all learning new terms where does this come where do these come from we need the origin story of these phrases ass over tea kettle yeah that's like kind of when you get flipped usually uh there's a story uh it was told at my grandpa's funeral and i loved this one of his friends was talking about how i guess he was playing uh ping pong with my grandpa and my grandpa was always very competitive very right you know love to hustle well I guess there was a couch behind my grandpa that he was not anticipating so he ran backward and of course whoops a daisy and this friend at his funeral said that my grandpa had gone ass over applesauce and I loved it and the friend's wife looked a little bit embarrassed because they say that you shouldn't mention asses or applesauce at people's funerals but you know I just feel like you could say anything you could say like ass over picture frame or well that's stupid

damn wow so okay he's just been knocked ass over picture frame we're workshopping it folks we'll figure it out so then indians catcher john ellis came over and he popped

lennie randall he popped him good and as a result all hell broke loose bench is cleared yep big fight people come in from the bullpen from the outfield. Norm, you know this too well. Oh, yeah.

The Rangers and the Indians were all like, not on my watch, and they all ran out into the field and started punching, boom, boom, boom. It was a knock-down, drag-out fight. Now, the fighting finally broke up, probably because some hot ladies yelled, please stop. It's not worth it.

That's enough, boys. No, that's not how they do it. You have to sound genuinely upset. Oh, I just thought some hot ladies walked by oh stop it boys Walking on top of the dugout Okay I do like that a little bit

Yeah in a two-piece bikini Oh wow Oh it's Arlington it's hot The Cleveland Indians were walking back to the dugout All tough and angry after the fight Had been broken up Really gets the testosterone going And then a bunch of Rangers fans

threw beer at them Why not it was only 10 cents a cup Hell yeah But the players didn't take kindly to the beer bath. So catcher Dave Duncan started yelling back at one of the fans. And the fan was like, you want to fight me, bro? And Dave was like, bring it on, you skanky bitch, or, you know, whatever. And then another fan, who wasn't even involved in the argument, threw a cup of beer right in Dave Duncan's face.

And Dave Duncan was like, mah! And he tried to throw himself over the roof of the dugout to get at the fan. And all his teammates were like, Dave Duncan, no, Dave Duncan, no! And they held him back. Woo. I do enjoy compilations of fans trying to fight professional athletes. You know. It happens a lot more than you think.

You kind of have to admire it. Usually alcohol is involved. Well, it would have to be, right, to be like, oh, this guy who works out for a living, I'm going to punch him in the face, see what happens to me. The best is when it's with NFL players. Do people... Oh, man. Yeah, like, I remember one guy

got ejected from a game and he was going through the tunnel. Uh-huh. And, yeah, some guy, like, threw a beer on him or something. And, like, this NFL player's, like, six foot five, 300 pounds. And he's, like,

he looks up and stares him down. Yeah. And, yeah, the fan's like, what? Let's go, let's go. It's just, like, short, fat, pudgy little guy. Mm-mm. It's like, dude, you just get absolutely destroyed.

Now, there's an NBA game one time. where a player actually fought the fan. Like he jumped into the crowd and started fighting him. I think that was Ron Artest. How did it go? Oh, shoo. Yeah, he beat him up. Pretty good.

That's future topic? You ever beating anybody up? No. You ever talked trash? Um, talked trash. Not really. You're a good guy. It's just not me.

Yeah. I don't have it in me. You jump straight to murder, as we've already. established. So I admire that about you. Zero to 60. Well, I read a book called Catcher in the Rye, and I just was inspired. Sure, got sick of all the phonies. I get it. We all do. So you get the picture. Things had gotten pretty ugly. First, there'd been the fist fight between the two teams, then there'd been the scuffle between Dave Duncan and those asshole Rangers fans, and to top it all off, a bunch of Rangers fans then got up on the dugout roof, and they shouted mean things to

the Cleveland Indians. Man, this must have been before there was a barrier. So fans were just getting on the dugout roofs. It does sound like there was no barrier. Yeah, but there was also 10-cent beer. So, you know. Yeah, there were some... There are no fences when you got 10-cent beer in you.

That's true. Finally, three police officers came over and broke the whole thing up. With that, the game ended. The Indians lost three to zero. And then, to add insulin. assault to injury, when the media asked Rangers manager, Billy Martin, if he was worried about taking the team to Cleveland the following week, considering how the Rangers fans had just treated the Indians, Billy said, no, they don't have enough fans there to worry about. Oh, shit. Wow, that's just the trash talking continues.

It was fucked up because it was true. Yeah. Oh. So, in just six days, the Indians and the Rangers. two teams who now super hated each other would meet again. This time in Cleveland, this time at another 10-cent beer night. Over the course of those six days, oh, the rivalry built,

the host of a popular Cleveland radio show told everyone that they needed to show up for this game. He said weird, inflammatory things that I do not fully understand. So I'm going to share this quote with you. Okay. It doesn't sound sports-related, but you tell me if I'm, I'm wrong. He said... We won't take it out of context, I promise. Okay. He said, Come out to beer night and let's stick it in Billy Martin's ear. What the fuck does that mean?

Stick it in his ear? Give him an earful. I don't know. I hope so. Yeah. Earful of what, though, exactly? Mean words. Oh. You're not very good at baseball. Yeah. Your uniforms suck and they're kind of dirty. There, I just stuck it in your ear. Yeah, baseball players don't care about that, Kristen. I don't think that would work too much. The morning of the game, the local paper ran an image of the Indians mascot wearing boxing gloves. Chief Wahoo. Okay, I was about to write that, but I guess they used a different mascot sometimes, so...

It wasn't Chief Wahoo? I don't believe it was. I believe it was... It's not Slugger. I know that's the Royals. one. But it's something that starts with an S, I'm pretty sure. Slugger is very unique. He sure is.

That's the Royals mascot for those who don't know. He is a lion with a crown literally formed in his head. He was born that way, baby. God, I hope so. You know, on your old decrepit rotting podcast,

I covered a case where a fan got shot in the eye by a hot dog. You can't say shot in the eye. He did. Slugger did hit the guy in the eye with the hot dog. Slugger had a hot dog gun.

Okay. He fired off several rounds into the crowd, and he hit this poor man in the eye with a hot dog. Okay, but it was unintentional. And it went all the way to the Supreme Court. The Missouri Supreme Court. Which is the highest court in the land. No. Even the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

refers to the Missouri Supreme Court. It's the heart of a. America, Kristen. That's right. The heart of hot dogs, too. That's probably Chicago. I'm sorry. I'm just picturing, like, you know, if you had to go.

And we all do eventually. Wouldn't it be a little funny if on, like, your 99th birthday, you go to a baseball game, and the mascot is out there firing away with the hot dog gun. And you yon, because you're 99. Right. And a hot dog lands perfectly in your mouth, chokes you out, and you're done. What a way to go. What a way to go.

Slugger acquitted of all charges. He's raising the hand with the lawyer. Yeah. So everyone got the message. Show up to the game and better yet, show up a little angry. And boy, people really did show up. Maybe it was the rivalry. Maybe it was the cheap beer.

Whatever it was, it was working. Maybe it was that radio host saying, let's stick it in his ear. And be really like, yeah, let's do it. It's like a propagandist. He's rallying people. I mean, he really was. That night, June 4, 1974, 25,134 people came to the game. Wow, that's a good turnout for me. Yeah. You said it was like a little under 10,000 usually? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

It's a great turnout. It was a full moon. Temperatures in the 70s. It was also a Tuesday, the perfect night for getting lit. Did you say a full moon? Yeah. Oh, boy. Do you think that's what's to play? Weird stuff happens in full moons. Yeah, I'm about to tell you all about it. It was exciting, Norm, but also a little weird.

This wasn't the usual crowd. It was younger. And that made sense because at the time, the drinking age was 18. Yes. So a lot of teenagers were super excited about the prospect of maybe buying a bleacher seat for 50 cents and then getting sloppy with the rest of their dollar. And June 4th, so school's out? Yeah.

Oh, man. It's a mess. One person who attended the game that night was famous anchorman Tim Russert. Oh, I love Tim Russert. Are you making that up? Yeah. Okay. He's from Meet the Press.

If you look him up, once you look him up and see a picture of him, you'll be like, I know this man. Maybe I do actually love Tim Russert. You might. Oh. Yeah. I know this man. Okay. So he was a college student at the time and he went there with some friends and when asked about it later he said, I went with $2 in my pocket. You do the math. Oh, well, 50 cent bleacher seats. Uh-huh. You could buy 15 beers. You'd be a king. Yeah. So the crowd was bigger than usual, maybe a little younger than usual. And also a little bit more.

Wild, some people showed up drunk. Oh, shit. And weirdly... That's what we call pre-gaming, Kristen. Why would you pre-game when beers are 10 cents a piece? Fair point. It's cheaper than the grocery store. I mean, honestly. Yeah. Well, they're just stupid then.

Yeah. Just got to get lit at the game. Weirdly, some people showed up with fireworks in their pockets. Oh. You know, just in case. You ever been somewhere and thought, need to light some fireworks. I'm just imagining me trying to go to a royals game and I have fireworks in my pockets. I mean, the security at games now is just like intense. Yeah, you're fall down drunk because

you pre-gamed and you got fireworks in your pockets. Sir, what is that in your pocket? I'm just happy to be here. Also, what was with those funny looking cigarettes these people kept smoking? Oh, those aren't cigarettes. About five minutes before the game started, umpire Larry McCoy went out to home plate with some of the other umpires and he was like, my God, what's this haze out here? You smell that? Did someone bring their pet skunk to the game tonight? It's the devil's lettuce, you fools.

And two of the younger umpires had to inform Larry that the haze he was noticing was in fact marijuana. This is like a deadly concoction of things going on. You have young people, you have alcohol, you have marijuana. This is everything you fear. Fireworks. A full moon. This will only end in disaster.

Indians pitcher Dick Bosman later said, you could get high just by breathing deep. Dick Bosman. There's got to be a joke there, right? No, there's no joke. Dick and Ballsman. Maybe we could stick him in Billy Martin's ear. I do have to say the thing about people bringing their pet skunks. I'm actually making fun of my mother because several years ago, I went to

a movie with her. And I don't know if you went with us, but like it was me and Kyla and Jay and Allie and Allie was really young and we were in the parking lot. And I mean, clearly someone had been smoking and, you know, we were all like, woof, but we weren't going to say anything in front of the young child and evidently not in front of my very young mother. Your poor, innocent mother. I said, I made a joke. I was like, oh, I think somebody brought their pet skunk in here. And my mom goes, pet skunk.

And then she goes, and I mean, it took a minute. Then all of a sudden she goes, that's not a skunk. That's marijuana. And she was right. So she actually thought someone had brought a pet skunk in that she realized. No, she knew I was being funny saying someone brought their pet skunk in there. But she was having a little trouble keeping up, maybe because she was a little high. Check her purse.

What movie did you guys watch? I think it was Frozen or something. I don't know. Oh, I probably didn't go then. No, you did not. Damn, I missed a classic moment. You sure did. The important thing was everyone was having fun.

The team had a beer truck behind the home run fence. It was basically a truck full of kegs with spigots coming out the side of it. That night they had two teenage girls working that beer truck. One girl would take the money and the other girl would pour the beer. Easy peasy. What could go wrong? Not a thing. And before anyone gets worried, calm down.

You should know that there were rules. For example, when you went up to buy a beer, you could only buy. six beers at a time. Oh, only six? End of rules. That's pretty lax. Six beers at a time? Six beers at a time.

Not six beers the whole night. Six beers at one time. Yeah. You're probably worried about security. Don't be. At a normal Cleveland Indians game, the stadium had 32 security guards. For 10-cent beer night,

they brought in the big guns. They upped it to 48. Thank you. Goodness. You can never be too careful. So the game got started and everyone was having a fabulous time. As far as the game goes, the Indians fell behind and in the second inning, Rangers designated hitter Tom Greve hit a home run. Nice. Hey, what? Pop quiz. What's a designated hitter? The best hitter on the team. Sometimes. What do you mean sometimes? Of course, if it's designated, designated driver means I'm driving designated hitter

I'm hitting everybody back up I'm hitting now uh-huh and don't be shocked when I hit a home run because I'm the designated hitter am I wrong I mean I'm not wrong you hate that I mean usually the designated hitter is the guy who hits well yeah what else would he do well I'm just I was just wondering if you knew that like the designated hitter you don't actually like play a position in the field all you do is hit. Oh. I don't know if you knew that or not. I did know that.

I don't think you did. I don't think you did. I knew it so well. No. Because as I was saying, before you had erupted me, I'm so good at hitting, I don't do other things. That's why I was like, she's kind of right. When it's time for us to be in the field, I'm up there eating hot dogs,

because all I do is hit, hit, hit no matter what, what. Well, and some designated hitters are, you know, they're bigger boys. Sure, sure. Because all we do is hit. Yeah, I know. Anyhow. So he hits a home run because he's the designated hitter, which, as we all know, means that when they're out there in the field, he's not doing much. That home run might, might have been devastated for the Indians fans.

But here's the thing. In that very same inning, a big-hearted, big-bosomed, middle-aged woman climbed on top of the Indians. dug out, turned to the crowd and whipped out her big halk and hooters. Woo-hoo! Are you for real? I am for real. Wow. Okay, and I've got shit to say.

Because these days, when people write about 10-cent beer night or do their little videos, they, for some reason, want to talk about how that woman was kind of old or, oh, she was fat. Let me tell you something. On June 4th, 1974, when that woman was... whipped out her hooters, that whole crowd, they cheered because they understood that when it comes to naked hooters, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. Yeah, no one's complaining. These are free hooters at the baseball game. Now, shortly after tucking those tities away,

the woman then hustled her way over to home plate where umpire Nestor Chilak was trying to do his job. And she was like, let me kiss you. Okay, back off later. We enjoyed the Hooters show, but let's get back to your seat now. Yep, yep. You got the Hooters locked away. Lock those lips away, too, please. Tucked the titties.

So, yeah, Nestor was not into it, not amused. But boy, did she give it a valiant effort. Do you remember Fountain Lady? How could I forget? A legendary story from the Kansas City Royals. Yes. A lady drank a few too many blue margaritas. She definitely pre-gamed, let me tell you.

And we do have some lovely fountains at the stadium. They're not for sitting in, but they were that night. Right, she got in the fountains, got dragged out, was arrested, solicited the cop who arrested her. It was a mess. But she's legendary now. Yeah. Everyone knows the fountain lady. They say she was inspired by Hooters McGee.

whatever this lady's real name was. We'll go Hooters, McGee. It was at this moment that the folks in charge had their first bit of trouble because they weren't entirely sure how to wrangle this big brazen beer-guzzling broad. But eventually they did get her off the field and away from poor Nestor. Hey, get security out there. Come on, security. Okay, they were a little...

I think they were a little thrown off by how to handle this. Looking back, Rangers player Tom Greve was like, yeah, that lady ended up being totally harmless. But the fact that she did that, you know, whipped out her hooters and tried to kiss an umpire in the second inning was a sign that things were about to get really wild. That does not bode well for the rest of the game. It's the second inning. Like, nothing has happened yet. Usually in second inning, you're going to get your nachos.

Yeah. You're maybe taking a little bathroom break. You're settling into the game. You're not whipping out your hooters by the second inning. No, that's a sixth inning thing. at best. Speaking of which, by the third inning, there was trouble a brewing at the beer truck. Okay, I mentioned earlier that they had two teenage girls working the beer truck.

Well, you're not going to believe this, but that might not have been enough staff. And it also might not have been the right kind of staff for working a 10-cent beer truck. Yeah. Because in that third inning, where one girl was taking the money, the other was pouring the beer, demand way outpaced the girl's output. Because some people were going up and literally ordering six beers at a time. Sure. And then immediately getting back to the end of the line, drinking the six beers as they waited and ordering six more.

Dear God. So things got a little tense. And eventually those thirsty fans got mad that they weren't getting their beers fast enough. So they took a table, picked it up, and threw it over the beer. truck. Over the beer truck? Yep. It was at that point that those two gals made the smartest decision that anyone made that

whole night. I'm calling it. They left. Thank God. Yes. Yep. So with the two teenage girls gone, the fans begin filling their own beers from the spigots on the beer truck.

Oh, no. And you'll be disgusted to learn that some people just drink directly from the spigot like an elementary school water fountain. Nasty. It's something Barney Gumble would do on The Simpsons. Well, yeah. Drink directly from the draft spigot. It was official.

Ten-cent beer night was over. Now it was something even better. It was free beer night. Oh, shit. Oh, no. Yeah, the two teenage girls in charge are gone. Let's have a party. That really was the smartest thing they could do.

Absolutely. Just freaking leave. Then came the fourth inning. In that inning, Rangers player Tom Greve once again, hit a home run. But no one cared because just as he was about to round third base, a completely naked man jumped on the field and slid, slid, buck-ass naked into second base. Woo!

Woo! Yeah! Legend has it, he pulled AstroTurf out of his pubs for weeks. Also in the fourth inning, Indians hit her Leron Lee, hit a line drive back to Rangers pitchers. Furgy Jenkins. It happened so fast that the ball hit Furgy in the stomach. It was terribly painful, obviously, and the Indians fans felt super bad for him. They shouted things like, oh no, is he okay? Just kidding. As soon as Fergie... I was going to say, this doesn't sound right. As soon as Fergie took that baseball to his tummy, those drunk assholes began to clap.

They began to chant. Hit him again, harder. Hit him again. Harder! Hit him again harder! Norm, it seemed that the combination of cheap beer, the haze of the devil's lettuce, and perhaps the sight of all that naked nudity had brought out the worst in people. That dude slid, buck-ass-naked into second base. Yeah, you sure did.

That would hurt real bad. Don't call him a hero. On the twigginberries. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Then came the fifth inning. When Learong Lee got called safe at third, Rangers manager Billy Martin disputed the call. Oh, no. Don't leave the dugout, Billy. Get back in there.

Yeah, drunken fans threw beer at him. And Billy Martin, not one to back down to drunken assholes, blew them kisses. Oh, wow. It is at this point that I'd like to interrupt this chaotic tale with a tender story. Norm, I believe we all like a good father-son bonding moment, don't we? Sure, yeah. Well, get ready to have your heart warmed, okay? Because it was in this inning that a father and son got out there and together on the field. They dropped their pants and showed everyone their butts. Because, and I always say this, if you're going to moon somebody, you better do it with your family by your backside.

dare I say that the father and son mooning really inspired people. By that point, there were about 60 people running on the field between innings. Why not? No one can stop them. No. This is just pure chaos. You said it perfectly. The poor security guards were stretched way too thin, plus they were exhausted,

try to keep up with all these wild drunk people. Then came the sixth inning. In that inning, a young man got out onto the field. stripped down to just what the good lord gave him, ran around here and there, back and forth, and when it looked like he might be in danger of being caught, he ran, ran, ran, ran, ran, ran, and woohoo, hopped the fence. Ha, ha, naked man, except, oh, shit, as soon as he hopped that fence, he boom, ran right into a police officer. And that police officer was prepared because he was holding a big garbage bag,

and he put the naked dude in the bag and dragged him away. Put him in the garbage bag? Yes. Just haul them off like trash? Essentially, yeah. Wow. Pandemonium was officially setting in. It's that full moon.

It's making people do crazy things. Would you ever streak? No. How much would someone have to pay you to slide naked into second base? Oh my God. Like hands first slide or with my legs? You know what? Either one would hurt.

You get to choose. You get to choose. shoes. It has to be at a major league baseball game. So I have to jump on the field. Yes. Naked. Yes. You can have socks on. We'll allow socks. Oh, thank you. You're welcome. And then I have to slide into second base. We'll allow third as well. How much I'd have to get paid? Yeah. Well, okay, this is tricky because a lot of these streakers are getting charged. Let's say you don't get charged. Let's say. I don't want to be on the

sex offender registry. No, no, no. Let's say, let's say there are no serious consequences. consequences, but, you know, everyone does have footage of that moment. It's got to be life-changing money. Well, yeah. Because it'll live on for the rest of my life. Everyone, this is one of my favorite games to play with Norman, the how much for you to do this thing. And part of why I love it is because his answer is always way too low. Like, way, way too low.

He's always like, well, it would have to be life-changing money. And by that, of course, I mean a $60 gift card in Chile. It's true. I undervalue myself so much. Like $250,000. $250,000. Okay, this is what I'm talking about, $250,000 to slide naked into second base at amazing my baseball game.

Yeah. And then I get money. Yeah. And I don't, I'm not on the sex offender registry. Nope. Yeah, $250,000. I would do it. That's pretty good money.

Okay. Very good. You think I should ask for more, huh? I mean, yeah. Kristen, if I put that in the stock market, 10 years, it'll be a ton of money. I understand. I know I could have asked for more money.

So pandemonium was officially setting in. Poor Mike Hargrove, the Rangers' first baseman, kept being like, ow, ow, out. Oh, he's probably getting pelted all night. Hey, cut it out. Stop it. because as he later put it, I think I got 20 pounds of hot dogs thrown at me that night.

Wow. Yeah, I was going to say, yeah, if you're playing first base or third base, you are close to the fans. Way too close. Pretty soon, there were no rules. With several beers in you, what's to stop you from going wherever you want to go?

The bullpen, the field itself, much better seats than the ones you originally purchased. In retrospect, that one doesn't seem so bad. Honestly, I don't mean people do that when they're sober. I mean, packs of fans just went out into the outfield. One dude threw a tennis ball onto the field and then was like, oh, damn, I kind of want my tennis ball back. And he just went out there and got it. Oh, my God.

And, of course, security tried to chase after him, but because they were stone cold, sober, and very tired, and he wasn't at all. He ran and ran and ran away. And at one point, just to be an asshole, he stopped and gave another random fan a big hug. And it was during that embrace that some ushers intervened. And they were like, get out of here. Man. You hate this, don't you. It's just chaos.

I don't like the chaos. Yeah. The rules are just gone. No one's following the rules anymore. Fights broke out in the stands. Pretty soon, the normal folks cleared out. I would be gone by the second. Once the lady flashed her hooters.

No, you'd be like, I'm going to stick around for more hooters. And if after a while you didn't see any more hooters, you just saw naked dudes sliding in a second, you might be like, you know what, I think it's time to pack it up and leave. All right, that's enough. I'm going to start the car. So, with the normies gone, those drunken dummies started throwing everything they could out onto the field. Beer, empty cups, snacks, golf balls, also batteries, for some reason. and batteries.

Yeah. You know, I wonder if they had like a little radio. They had radios, yeah. Yeah, and they listened to the commentary while the game's going on. Okay, that makes sense now. Yeah, it makes perfect sense to throw the batteries out onto the field. I agree, Norm. Mm-hmm.

You don't want to lose the radio. That's the valuable part. You're not going to believe this, Norm. But they threw all that stuff after the announcer specifically asked them not to throw things on the field. In fact, the announcement had just resulted in people throwing more stuff onto the field. I said, don't do that. Did management start to wonder what would happen if we made an announcement asking people

to go out onto the field and show us their balloon knots? Could reverse psychology turn this whole thing around? We have no way of knowing. But what we do know is that for the stadium staff, this was a nightmare. They had their hands full trying to keep people off the field. And then they had their hands full trying to pick up all the clothes from all the naked people. There was trash everywhere. There were beer cups everywhere.

At one point, some fan got tired of throwing hot dogs at Rangers' first baseman Mike Hargrove. And instead, threw a half-empty gallon jug a Thunderbird wine at him. What the hell? So it barely missed Mike. So Mike kicked it off the field, thinking, well, the grounds crew is going to come pick that up. and instead some random fan went out, grabbed it, and took it back into the stands. Oh, my now. He's probably going to go chug it.

Well, okay, so that's the thing. It's like, was he going to chug it or was he going to throw it back at Mike? Either way, Mike was not excited to see the outcome. Yeah. In the seventh inning, someone decided to kick things up a notch. I mentioned those firecrackers earlier. Oh, no. I can't believe they haven't canceled the game at this point or postponed the game.

Uh-huh. Yeah. How's it going to get better? How's it going to get better? It's just going to get worse. True. What's the score, by the way? Are we keeping up with the score of the game? Barely. So the Rangers are winning. Okay. So they threw firecrackers into the Rangers' bullpen. And the Rangers were like, holy shit, and they ran across the field into the dugout.

That is kind of funny. Pretty soon, things got a little crazy in Cleveland's bullpen, too. So they ran into their dugout. This ended up impacting the game, which at this point it might be a good time to remind everyone there was in fact a baseball game happening. I love that you had just asked about this. You wouldn't know it. So with the dugout lit up by firecrackers, Rangers manager Billy Martin had to keep relief pitcher Steve Ficoe in the game because, as all of us baseball enthusiasts know, the bullpen is where the pitchers warm up and get ready to give the hitters the business.

And with no opportunity to warm up, Lil Stevie had to save the day by staying in the game. While people whizzed by him, taints to the wind. Good job, Kristen. Speaking of which. Oh, no. By that point, so many people were streaking that there was now a clothing pile in the left center field. What the hell? There's just a mound of clothes in the outfield?

Sure, sure. Well, they wanted to keep it orderly, you know? Yeah, yeah, sure. as a trip hazard if you're going for a fly ball and you've got obstacles in the game. Fans began tearing the padding off of the left field wall and they got a good size chunk of it off. The grounds crew was like, holy shit,

what do we even do right now? They'd been running around all night trying to pick up the random trash that had been thrown onto the field, which of course had just made them targets for the drunk fans. And now they saw that padding was being ripped off the stadium wall and they were like,

well, I guess, that's the more important thing. So at that point, they gave up trying to pick up trash. They were done with that. They were done trying to clear the field of debris. And instead, they just focused on stopping fans from literally taking a piece of Cleveland Municipal Stadium home with them. Yeah. It was at this point in the seventh inning that some of the umpires began asking themselves,

oh boy, if I need to get out of here quickly, what route would I take? Mm-hmm. And it was also at this point that Cleveland Indians executive vice president, Ted Bonda, bravely thought about doing something. He bravely thought about doing something. It's so brave to think things. And he thought about having one of the players, Gay Lord Perry, who was not washed up and not spitty, get on the mic and ask the fans to calm down. He thought about it. He did think pretty hard about it.

And years later, when asked about that moment, he said that someone, else talked him out of doing that. Hats off to you, Ted Bonda. We love an accountable queen, don't we? All right. Let's applaud. Good job standing up and doing the right thing, Ted, for thinking about doing something. Meanwhile, the players were all getting pretty concerned. A lot of them had their families at this game. And they were like, we've got to get our families out of here. So during the seventh inning, the players' families were taken out of the stands and brought to the safety of the locker room. Did you imagine if you had your kids at this game?

No, I can't imagine a child at this game. I can't imagine a Normie C at this game. Normie C be gone after the Hooters. Well, I saw when I came here for boys. Goodbye. Oh, that was fun. Then, in the eighth inning, the higher-ups, including Ted Bonda, were like, okay, this is too much.

We've got a pitch in. So they went out. They helped the grounds crew. They helped the security crew. They helped the ushers. I'm of course just kidding because in that inning all of those dudes ducked out of the stadium trying to act all casual. All the executives left. Uh-huh.

Yeah. Oh, and the announcers noticed it. I don't know that they said any. I'm sure they didn't say anything on Mike. But, you know, they're witnessing all this pandemonium. Someone needs to do something. And there go all the front office boys just like, dee-de-de-dee-dee. Well, you know what?

I think I need to head home. I have an appointment later tonight. Oh, look at the time. Then came the ninth inning. Until this point, the Indians had been trailing behind, five to three. But at the bottom of the ninth, shit got real. George Hendrick hit a double.

Ed Crosby hit a single. Rusty Torres hit a single. Alan Ashby hit a single. They tied it up. They were posed for a walk-off win. It was in the bag, baby! Okay. If any game should not go to extra innings, it should be this one.

Agreed. Please don't let this game go to extra innings. The Cleveland Indians were going to win the game. Nothing could stop them. The crowd went wild! They had it in the bag. They had it in the bag. Do you understand that they had it in the back?

Are you excited for them? You don't seem excited. I have a feeling this is going to extra innings. I really don't want it to. It does not go to extra innings. So they won? Well, they had to have won. of the bottom of the night.

As the crowd went wild, a very drunk 19-year-old named Terry Yerick got on the field. He ran up to Rangers right fielder Jeff Burroughs and stole his hat. But then Terry dropped it because, you know, he was super drunk. And when he went down to pick up the hat, he looked up and there was Jeff Burroughs, Stone Cold, Sober, hatless, and mad. And Terry said, oh, hell. and Jeff kicked him, boom, right in the thigh. And then Jeff kind of stumbled over his own feet and went, you know, ass over picture frame, as they say.

Right. Anyway, so he's down on the ground. Now, from his spot in the dugout, Rangers manager Billy Martin couldn't quite see what had happened. All he knew was that the night had been pure hell and now one of his guys was down on the ground. So Billy Martin grabbed a bat and he yelled to his team, Let's go get him, boys!

And he and the rest of the Rangers hauled ass to save their good pal Jeff. They formed a posse. Yes, they did. They got to Jeff super quickly, and he was okay. But now, all the Rangers players were out on the field with bats, and the fans went nuts.

It was all the permission they needed. Hundreds of them poured out onto the field. All of a sudden, it was 25 Rangers players versus hundreds of angry drunk people. The number of fans kept climbing because more and more and more piled onto the field, ready to fight. Some people had knives, some people had chains, some had yanked parts of seats out of the stadium. They were ready to throw down. And it was at this point that the Rangers and the Indians, two rivals, realized that they had so much in common

with one another. For example, they all had little balls and bats and a love of the game and in appreciation for Big League two, I'm guessing, and also disgust, disgust for these drunk fans. And so, Indians manager Ken Aspermante yelled, we got to help Billy! And they did. The Cleveland Indians ran onto the field, bats in hand, ready to protect the Rangers from their fans. Wow, this is heartwarming. The Indians and the Rangers were like, Wonder Twin Powers activate! And together, they fought against the drunken mob, with the Cleveland Indians trying to protect the Rangers. Are they hitting people with bats?

Norm, it was insane. It was a tough battle. Someone smacked Indians pitcher Tom Higendorf across the head with a metal folding chair. Jesus. It's like a wrestling match. Indians' third baseman Buddy Bell remembers looking at Tom Higendorf, holding his head in pain. and Buddy was concerned, but also just a little amused

because Tom had this epic combover and he was super self-conscious about it. And the way the fan had hit him with that chair had knocked the comb over all catty wampas. It combed it to the other side. I mean, this is just proof that if you have a comb over, people will always laugh at you, even if you were just knocked upside the head with a stadium chair.

The picture of this moment is wild. But yeah, I mean, his comb over is not just cute. Oh, there's photos. Oh, hell yeah, there are photos. Okay. In the chaos, umpire Nestor Chilak was cut with a metal folding chair. Umpire Joe Brinkman was like, that's enough. And he grabbed a fan by the collar and took him bleeding from the face off the field.

At one point, someone jumped out of the upper deck onto the foul screen and fell through it. A newspaper reporter who was there documenting the chaos trying to interview fans got punched in the face. twice for no reason. This is insanity. People were going nuts, punching and punching and punching. And it's still the bottom of the ninth. Yeah.

Are they going to finish this game? Norm, if there is a silver lining, it's that most people were so drunk that they had a lot of trouble really land in the punches. Yeah, yeah. They mostly beat the shit out of the air that night. The situation was out of control, but shout out to the organist who played Take Me Out to the Ball Game

throughout the entire brawl in the hopes that it might calm people down. Is that for real? That's for real. It didn't work, but we love the effort. The soothing tunes. Yep. Take me out to the ball game. Meanwhile, some people still had to do their jobs. The announcers, Joe Tate and Herb's score, were on the radio doing their best to tell people

what the hell they were witnessing. I can't even imagine describing this scene. I'm going to read a partial transcript to you now. Okay. Joe Tate. Tom Hilgendorf has been hit on the head. Hilgi is in definite pain. He's bent over, holding his head.

Oh, this is an absolute tragedy. Absolute tragedy. I've been in this business for over 20 years. I've never seen anything as disgusting as this. Broadcasters often employ the always a few bad apples defense in these situations, but when confronted with the sight of an entire stadium of such rotten fruit, Joe Tate finds himself at a loss. And I'll be perfectly honest with you.

I just don't know what to say. Herb score. I don't think this game will continue, Joe. The unbelievable thing is people keep jumping out of the stands after they see what's going on. Joe Tate. Well, that shows you the complete lack of brain power on the parts of some people. There's no way I'm going to run out onto the field if I see some baseball player waving a bat out there looking for somebody. This is tragic.

The whole thing has degenerated now into just... Now we've got another fight going with fans and ballplayers. Hargrove has some kid on the ground and he is really administering a beating. Herb score. Well, that fellow came up and hit him from behind is what happened. Now they're just commentating a fight now. Joe Tate. Boy, Hargrove really wants a piece of him and I don't blame him.

Herb score. Look at Duke Sims down there going at it. Joe Tate. Yeah, Duke is in on it. Here we go again. The security people here are just totally incapable of handling this crowd. They just, well, short of the National Guard, I'm not sure what could handle this crowd right now. It's unbelievable, just unbelievable. Herb score. People go back into the seats and others jump down to take their place. Joe Tate. The bases are gone. Someone stole the bases? Yes, yes. This pandemonium went on for like 40 minutes before eventually both teams were able to make their way back to the clubhouse and hideout.

I think the chaos of it helped them make their escape. That's like out of a cartoon. Oh, yeah. Everyone's fighting each other. And then, yeah, you just sneak out of the dust, the dust cloud of fists flying. I didn't think about it. Yeah, the dust would be flying. Yeah.

And the thing about the bases are gone. Yeah, the bases have never been recovered from this night. So someone has bases. Yes. from this night. Municipal Stadium. Man, imagine that going to auction or something. Oh, that would be wild, wouldn't it?

This is third base from 10-cent beer night. 1974. That would be pretty cool. It would be cool if it was in the Hall of Fame, like someone sent it to the baseball Hall of Fame. Yeah. Plack alert. Come on.

If you have that base. Fess up. We won't punish you. We won't punish you. We won't get mad. In fact, we will give you a free beer. Just a little spanking. Just a little spanking.

That's all. Norm, this is the moment you've been waiting for. I think you've been begging for this since the second inning when that woman showed off her hooters. Umpire Nestor Chilak, who had so valiantly fought off that big-breasted woman, was like, you know what? This is a forfeit. The Rangers win. The Rangers win? Yeah.

Oh, because it's the home team. Well, yeah. Yeah, you are responsible. Yeah. You come to my house and I've shat all over the place. That's your fault. That's on me. That's on me. You're right. You're right. Fair point, Kristen. The Cleveland Police Department arrived to help get people out of the stadium. I realize I worded that way too politely. That's not what happened. They showed up with riot gear. Now, I'm just here to help you get on your way. No, that was not the vibe. The drunk folks did not want to leave. They stole the police officers' little hats. They stole badges. But, you know, the police did have riot sticks. And boy, did they use them.

And they also had tear gas, and boy, did they use that. And finally, the stadium just turned off the lights because, you know, how do you punch someone if you can't even see them? Good idea. Meanwhile. But that full moon is out. Oh, that's true. Mm-hmm. I can punch you thanks to the light of the full moon.

Mm-hmm. Oh! You looked at the camera like I should be embarrassed by that. No, no. Jokes on you. I was paid $250,000 to do it. Punch by the light. of the moon.

Meanwhile, the players were in the locker room trying to unpack what the hell had just happened to them. The Rangers stayed in the locker room for two hours. They didn't leave until they knew that a ton of police officers were going to escort them to their hotel. Yeah, I'd be prepared to sleep in the locker room. Absolutely. When they did get to the hotel, management told them to stay in their rooms until noon

the next day. Oh, my God. And the dudes were like, but we're hungry. We didn't get dinner. We got pelted by hot dogs all night. We didn't get a bite out of any of them. That's a shame right there. I know.

It's like that famous saying, hot dogs, hot dogs everywhere, but not a bike to eat. I've never heard of this saying. That's actually, it's water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. It's first, you know, if you're out at sea. And, you know, it's a tragic tale, much like this one right here. Yes. That night, when it was time to talk to reporters, the Cleveland Indians were embarrassed.

The chief of stadium security told reporters that what had happened that night was the worst incident in the history of Cleveland baseball. He said, we would have needed 25,000 people to handle that crowd. And make it an even fight. What most people felt toward 10-cent beer night was shame, disgust. And there was plenty of blame to go around. But one person in particular was, not ashamed. That was Cleveland Indians executive vice president, Ted Bonda.

Oh, yeah. He wasn't ashamed. Well, he did think about helping. I am not impressed by this man. Yeah. And I don't know why more of these stories don't kind of poke at him a little more. No kidding. As soon as word got out about the 10 cent beer night debacle, the league office in New York was like, ah, Ted, you need to come out here, buddy. And so he went to New York. Talk to Daddy. Uh-huh. To get his spanking. And instead of getting spanked, he spent the whole time arguing that technically the night had been pretty good because they'd gotten all those butts in seats. Never mind the fact that the owners of those butts had ripped the seats out of the stadium, but, you know, whatever. Dude, they were tearing the walls in the outfield off. They stole all the bases.

Ridiculous. Funny thing was, there wasn't much time to argue because the following night, the Indians had another game to play. Maybe they shouldn't allow fans in for that game. No more fans. Cleveland Municipal Stadium still reeked of beer because, of course. Oh, it's going to smell bad for weeks. And that night before the game started, the announcer said that any fan who entered the field would be prosecuted. And that crowd, which was only like 7,000 people, was so well behaved that one fan said that the evening felt more like a recital than a Major League Baseball game. Now, that's my kind of baseball game.

Let's all sit and enjoy the game. I won't even make conversation with those around me. That's how much I enjoy this game. If you're wondering whether the Cleveland Indians learned a lesson, the answer is, kind of, because Cleveland held another 10-cent beer night. What?

On July 18th, 1974. They had another one? Yeah, so they had four planned that season. Well, after the first, you got to cancel the rest. Maybe not. if it got butts in seats. There was like a riot. Yeah.

Yeah. This was ridiculous. A lady showing her hooters. Well, what's wrong with that? Trying to kiss the ump. You're naming the least bad parts. A man getting pelted by 20 hot dogs. The Rangers players talked later about how like, thank God the Indians came out to protect them and help them.

Because otherwise, someone could have gotten very, very, very. hurt. We're talking more than a comb over scrape. Sure. That's so rude. That guy did look hurt. But it's been a while, so I'm guessing he's fine. It's okay. We can joke about it now. Good, because I've been joking about this thing the whole time. So they had another 10-cent beer night, but they had more rules. People were limited to two 10-cent beers each. The stadium hired three times their normal security, and everything turned out fine. Okay, so here's my thing. You do 10 cent beer night to get butts and seats.

Yeah. You're probably losing money on beer. Sure. Doing 10 cent beer night. Sure. You're spending money on security, heightened security for the game. Are you actually making any more money doing 10 cent beer night? I don't know.

I'd have to run the numbers, Norm. Let's crunch some numbers, baby. Three times the normal security guards doesn't actually seem like that much to me. So I'm guessing they did make money off of it. The next day, a reporter for the Cleveland press wrote, quote, it was so quiet, you could hear the foam breaking down in your cup. That's a great, great description. These days, the Indians 10-cent beer night has become the stuff of legends.

It's no longer an embarrassment. Instead, it's seen as kind of funny. That night, the stadium sold an estimated 65,000 beers to a crowd of 25,134 people. Although, who knows how much beer they actually sold because they lost track. Yeah, the teenage girls left. Nine people were arrested that night. Seven people went to the ER. Nineteen people streaked across the field.

And Terry Yerick, the drunk 19-year-old who kicked off a brawl by trying to see. steal Jeff Burroughs little hat? Well, he matured a bit. A few years back, he was named the City of Richmond Heights citizen of the year. He got the award for his volunteer

work with youth sports. Oh, my God. And that is the story of 10-cent beer night. Oh, my God. Can you imagine a 10-cent beer night today? No, no. But I also feel like there would be so much

more security. There would be This wouldn't happen in Major League Baseball today. No. They make so much money off beer. Well, right. But at like maybe some terrible festival that's not very well run, I can see something happening there. Oh, I love this story. I've always been so intrigued by it.

I know you're really into baseball. Yeah, it's the sports that drew me to this story. Not the Hooters. Not the sliding naked into second base. Mm-hmm. Or the idea of a baseball player being pelted with 20 pounds worth of hot dogs. Okay, so you asked me how much to slide naked into second base. Uh-huh.

How much for you to run out onto, on top of the dugout and flash your hooters to everybody? Oh, like, $2 million? Two million? Yeah. Wow. Like, you would have to be life-changing money. because for the rest of my life I'm just going to be the lady

the 39 year old woman who whipped out her hooters and then years from now assuming it ever gets written about the way these writers talked about that woman they talked about her like about her body size

as if she was big as a barn and then I saw a picture and it was like who that what the hell are you guys talking about? Is she just a normal looking woman? Yeah but I think it was like, you know, she had the nerve to show us her hooters and she wasn't as hot as we wanted her to be. I think that's what's going on here. I see. Which is why I had to tell people

you get what you get and you don't throw a fit when it comes to the hooters that are being shown to you. When you get free hooters at a sporting event, just enjoy it. It's rarely the hooters that you want to see. Have you ever been to a beach? It's rarely the super hot people who are wearing the thongs. Right. Yeah. Tragically. Anyhow, we don't body shame on this podcast. Absolutely not. We don't do it. It's wrong.

It's wrong. It's wrong, even when they ask us to. Now, she shouldn't have tried to kiss the umpire. Well, no, and she also shouldn't. She may have been drunk. Well, yeah. I'm just guessing here. Well, yes, she was super drunk.

No, you shouldn't show your hooters to everybody. Shouldn't try to kiss somebody who doesn't want to kiss you. Yeah, there's lots of shouldn'ts. We could spend all day going through the shouldness. For this topic, yeah, there is a lot of things people should not have done. So when are we going to a Royals game? You want to cause some trouble? Here's the thing.

Alcohol at these stadiums is so expensive. I can't imagine the kind of money I'd have to throw down to get good and sloshed, you know? That's why you pregame now. That's true. You get good and sloshed and then you go. And you bring fireworks in your pocket because you never know when you're going to need to throw them. Imagine those little snapper fireworks, just throwing them at the outfielder.

Yeah. I went to a game one time and there's an outfielder getting heckled and like, I just can't imagine. I would hate that. Yeah. Just all sorts of terrible things being said to you and you just have to like ignore it. Well, I mean, that's kind of like creating stuff online. Although you can, I mean, you can kind of ignore trolls. But you really can't.

You can avoid, like, you know, that meme of like there's no bullying on the internet. Just log off. Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah. But if you're playing the outfield, you can't leave. That's your job. You're the outfielder. You have to stand there and listen to these people.

That is why I recommend that you just be a designated hitter. Because I don't know if you know this norm. Very good. Yeah. You're not going to be out there in the field hearing that crap. I feel like you're learning. learning a lot about baseball. No, I started knowing it all, and I'm ending knowing it all.

Okay. Do you have any more baseball questions to ask me to work? Ooh, do I? Let's the, let me think. What happens when a batter hits the ball and it hits that tall yellow foul pole? Well, so one in a million shot, first of all. It happens quite a bit. Yeah, but we're always surprised when it does happen.

And when it does happen, that's a foul. That's a foul. It is actually a home run. If the ball hits the foul pull, it's considered a home run. Well, in this household. Oh, really? Love is love. Right.

We believe in science. Right. And also, when you hit the foul pole, we say one in a million shot. And also, that's a foul. And also, there's no ground rule doubles in this house. We call them oopsie daisies. That's right. That's right.

Kristen, do you want to share with the folks are curious? The history hoes want to know. Uh-huh. What kind of reality TV are you watching these days? They want to know? Of course they want to know. Well, okay, you already know. We are watching Love on the Spectrum right now.

Well, we're talking reality TV, Kristen. That's not reality TV. Well, yeah, it is. No, it's not. Yes, it is. It's reality TV. It's classier than. and my normal fare, if that's what you're getting at.

I thought you were going to talk about million-dollar secret. Oh, yeah, the poor man's traitors. I am watching that. It is wish.com traders. But I do like it. I do like it. Yeah, it's pretty good. It has some weird rules.

I wanted to talk to you about autism on the spectrum. Love on the spectrum. I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to talk to you about love on the spectrum. This is why we can't have any unscripted banter. I will mess up the very name of the show I'm trying to talk to you about. Uh-huh. No, we just watched an episode, everyone, and I got really uncomfortable because there is this one

woman who I was like... Her name is Danny. I was like, oh, my God, this would be me. This would be me with no filters. And I know it sounds like I already have no filters, but there are some filters working. But this lady is horny, and she knows what she wants. She's very... And she just...

Aggressive. Yeah. And, you know, it's one of those things. I was only uncomfortable because I saw too much of myself in it. I just know that if I were in that situation and I was into a guy and I had no social filters, I'd be like, so when's this happening? So when are we having sex? Do we have to finish this meal or... Oh, God.

Yeah. That's a good show. It is a I do love that show. It's very heartwarming. It's very sweet. And it just shows like a side of life that I don't think most people are exposed to. I really like it. I also like that in that show, there's really no game playing.

What do you mean? Well, I mean, people are pretty clear about what they want and don't want. Yeah, absolutely. And obviously that kind of rigidity can be a bad thing. but I don't know. I watched that show and I'm like, man, I wish I'd had a touch of that when I was dating people. Where you could just be like, I am not interested in you romantically, but I wish you all the best. Yeah.

You live too far away from me. Or even you have blonde hair and therefore, no. I mean, that was what. That one guy really did not want to date a blonde woman. I only want to date brunettes. I appreciate it. I respect it. But yeah, new season on Netflix right now.

We're not sponsored by this show. We're just talking about it. Well, clearly we're not sponsored because I messed up the name of it. You know, they'll know what to do. Should we wrap this up? Let's wrap it up. Kristen, you know what they say about history hoes. We always cite our sources.

That's right. For this episode, I got my information from the article 50 years later, the chaos of Cleveland's 10-cent beer night still shocks by Zach Maisel for the New York Times. The article 10-cent beer night, an oral history of Cleveland baseball's most infamous night by Vince Cureri for Cleveland magazine. The article, The Night Beer and Violence bubbled over in Cleveland by Paul Jackson for ESPN.com and more. That's all for this episode. Thank you for listening to an old-timey podcast. Please give us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts. and while you're at it, subscribe.

Support us on Patreon at patreon.com slash old-timey podcast. Join the Reddit community, our slash old-timey podcast. Follow us on Facebook and YouTube and Instagram at Old Timey Podcast. And you can also follow us individually on Instagram. I'm at Kristen Pitts-Karuso

and he's at Gaming Historian. And until next time, Tootulu, Tata, and Cheerio. Bye.