It was the bottom of the ninth inning on Tuesday, June 4, 1974, and the Cleveland Indians had just tied the ballgame against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Stadium, 5-5, before the contest came to an abrupt end. The game was forfeited, resulting in a victory for the visiting team, all because of built up emotions and a beer promotion known as 10-Cent Beer Night.
A week prior to the mayhem that led to nine fans being arrested, the Indians traveled to Texas where a bench-clearing brawl was the highlight of the game. Rangers Lenny Randle hit Indians pitcher Milt Wilcox with his forearm while in the process of being tagged out. John Ellis, the Indians first baseman, then punched Randle, and both sides came unglued. Once the outrage and fire slowly burned out on the field, Rangers’ fans began throwing food at the Indians players as they made their way back to their dugout.
That incident left fans on both sides eager to attend the night where beer would be sold at a discounted rate and feelings towards whatever team they were rooting against would be put on display. With hopes to see more fans in attendance, there was one catch to the cheap beer — a person was only able to purchase six cups of beers per purchase, however, the amount of purchases were unlimited.
The 55-cent decrease in the alcoholic beverage prices that summer evening had its consequences.
A few sips here turned into a few gulps there and soon enough, the crowd of 25,134 fans were making history — and not in a thumbs-up, congrats, kind-of-way. According to Bleacher Report, a woman flashed the crowd, a father and son mooned players, the crowd threw trash on the diamond and a fan tried stealing Rangers Jeff Burrough’s hat in the outfield before the drunk fans stormed the field forcing both teams to protect each other from the plastered supporters who had lost control.
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“It’s the closest I’ve ever seen anybody come to getting killed in my more than 25 years in baseball,” said former Texas Rangers manager Billy Martin in the newspaper, The Bulletin.
While a baseball stadium turning into a zoo isn’t something that happens often, that day in history is one that goes to show the influence beer can have on not only getting fans to games, but the effects it has on the body, especially when downing red Solo cup after red Solo cup.
“There was no question that beer played a part in the riot,” said former American League president Lee McPhail who was quoted on Bleacher Report.
Whether a fan is at the game or if they’re watching it from a couch, grabbing a bottle may seem like second nature. Beer seems to play an integral role in getting crowds to games and getting viewers to tune in.
According to TheHarrisPoll.com, in August 2016, 1,986 United States adults aged 21 or older participated in a poll that revealed what percentage of those people drink while watching a certain game on TV and while watching a sporting event in person. When watching football, 84 percent of people involved in the poll said they drink some kind of alcohol, and 83 percent grab a cold one when they’re at the game. While the numbers may be different in today’s day and age, compared to the era when the “10-Cent Beer Night” took place, as of last summer, 77 percent of people drink while watching a baseball game and 81 percent grab a long-neck at the actual ballpark.
Those stats reveal that alcohol and sports do have a relationship, whether that be the two go hand-in-hand or just side-by-side, it’s no wonder that thousands of attendees at the Indians and Rangers game took advantage of the cheap drinks .
And just for the record, the Indians, who had three more beer nights scheduled after everything went down on their field, changed their deal to four beers per person, maximum.
@Britt_Colindres