Disco Demolition Review...

[TaylorStSox]

6 hours ago, Dominikk85 said:

10 cent beer night was also great:).

First rule of Fight Club... 

[tray]

I was there as well, upper tank Left field   The biggest mistake was by Sox security who allowed fans to enter the park with 33 rpm projectiles. That threatened the players and caused Detroit to take them off the field. Hindsight is 20/20, but no one got shot which is something happens every day in every major city these days.  Well that was the 70's and  it is understandable that for most of you on this forum it may be hard to understand what things were like back  then.  We would park on the streets and walk to the park  after drinking at Shinnicks or Sheehans or Schaller's pump.  Admission was cheap and attracted a lot of teenagers  moreso than families.   The park was considered as the biggest outdoor tavern in the City.  Harry Carey seldom gets blame for anything, but he was the sloppy drunk who helped to promote the event and the atmosphere at games.

The more I think about this, maybe it would be a good idea to put Disco Demolition Night in a lighter perspective,  A controlled rap demo night might could be a nice promotion. Maybe that  pop music genre  is still too popular though..

[Sleepy Harold]

9 hours ago, tray said:

I was there as well, upper tank Left field   The biggest mistake was by Sox security who allowed fans to enter the park with 33 rpm projectiles. That threatened the players and caused Detroit to take them off the field. Hindsight is 20/20, but no one got shot which is something happens every day in every major city these days.  Well that was the 70's and  it is understandable that for most of you on this forum it may be hard to understand what things were like back  then.  We would park on the streets and walk to the park  after drinking at Shinnicks or Sheehans or Schaller's pump.  Admission was cheap and attracted a lot of teenagers  moreso than families.   The park was considered as the biggest outdoor tavern in the City.  Harry Carey seldom gets blame for anything, but he was the sloppy drunk who helped to promote the event and the atmosphere at games.

The more I think about this, maybe it would be a good idea to put Disco Demolition Night in a lighter perspective,  A controlled rap demo night might could be a nice promotion. Maybe that  pop music genre  is still too popular though..

It was a trash idea when you "jokingly" suggested it the first time, and it's a trash idea now.

[ron883]

I can't think of many worse ideas than a rap demolition night on the south side of Chicago

[Thad Bosley]

9 hours ago, tray said:

I was there as well, upper tank Left field   The biggest mistake was by Sox security who allowed fans to enter the park with 33 rpm projectiles. That threatened the players and caused Detroit to take them off the field. Hindsight is 20/20, but no one got shot which is something happens every day in every major city these days.  Well that was the 70's and  it is understandable that for most of you on this forum it may be hard to understand what things were like back  then.  We would park on the streets and walk to the park  after drinking at Shinnicks or Sheehans or Schaller's pump.  Admission was cheap and attracted a lot of teenagers  moreso than families.   The park was considered as the biggest outdoor tavern in the City.  Harry Carey seldom gets blame for anything, but he was the sloppy drunk who helped to promote the event and the atmosphere at games.

The more I think about this, maybe it would be a good idea to put Disco Demolition Night in a lighter perspective,  A controlled rap demo night might could be a nice promotion. Maybe that  pop music genre  is still too popular though..

Wait, you’re trying to blame Harry Caray for Disco Demolition?  That is beyond a stretch.  Disco Demolition was the brain child of Mike Veeck, and the event timed perfectly with Steve Dahl’s arrival at WLUP, on the heels of him losing his previous radio gig at a station that had changed its format to disco.  Harry had nothing to do with the event, other than to promote it on air on the days leading up, which was his job as an announcer.  

And this bit about being a “sloppy drunk” is also very misleading.  Oh, the ‘ol boy liked his drink, no doubt, and he was a legendary late night patron of many Rush Street drinking establishments.  But the guy never missed a day of work in his 50+ years of broadcasting, except for the time off he had when he had his stroke in the late ‘80s.  If he were a “sloppy drunk”, as you contend, he wouldn’t have had that perfect attendance record.  If anything, he was the essence of a “functioning alcoholic”.  

Edited October 18, 2019 by Thad Bosley

[greg775]

17 hours ago, ron883 said:

I can't think of many worse ideas than a rap demolition night on the south side of Chicago

If the Sox had a rap demolition night I think there would be murders in the ballpark and outside it. Not hyperbole. It's my opinion. Rap/hip hop, whatever is very popular. Kansas had Snoop Dogg on campus recently and 17,000 fans knew all the words to his songs. Defenders of rap would storm The Cell and I believe violence might ensue.

As far as Disco Demolition Night, in watching that video, I am amazed that nobody got hurt. I don't think anybody got hurt. No players, fans, cops, team officials. I think nowadays with that many people on the field, there would probably be violence of some kind.

Finally, I actually was impressed in watching the video. At one point the entire field was covered with fans/teens. The whole field. Harry and Veeck and those guys were by home plate. By the end of the broadcast, the field was totally cleared and in fact if you look at the end of the video, the field didn't look so bad. Yes it was unplayable probably, but not that bad. And by the time the announcers signed off, it didn't seem like that huge a deal, in fact, the Sox had not yet forfeited game two. At sign off time they were talking about a Sunday doubleheader to make up the disco game. I think in anger at the Sox doing this promotion, the commissioner or AL president ruled it a forfeit well after the fans had left and the park had been cleared. 

Listen to the announcers signing off. They were not acting as if this was one of the biggest stories in modern baseball history, which it turned out to be. They were calm and signed off regular tone of voice.

My conclusion: Sox front office should never ever have had a promotion where records were actually blown up. And if traffic truly was backed up to O Hare airport, cmon, they should have made something up to get the fans out of the stadium before the disco ceremony. I don't know how you could have gotten the fans out of there but when that stadium was full to the brim ... the disco demolition ceremony simply could NOT be held at that point. Maybe give all the kids a ticket that guaranteed them a free rock record of their choice at their local store.

Edited October 19, 2019 by greg775

[JoeBatadatz]

On 7/13/2019 at 9:50 AM, MnSoxFan said:

I heard a story about this from Jack Morris when he was interviewed as a Twin one time. Jack was in the bullpen when the 1st game was ending. He said that the smell of pot in the air was as thick as he had been around. Fans were really getting into the entire evening. 

 

Also, a buddy of mine was in the upper deck, he did not participate on the field. Not sure this is true or not, but he said when fans stormed the field that there were some kids who slid down the foul pole from the upper deck to 1st deck and then hopped onto the field.

This is absolutely true, I was sitting on the lower deck right behind the foul pole in RF.

[NO!!MARY!!!]

On ‎10‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 2:02 AM, greg775 said:

 

Finally, I actually was impressed in watching the video. At one point the entire field was covered with fans/teens. The whole field. Harry and Veeck and those guys were by home plate. By the end of the broadcast, the field was totally cleared and in fact if you look at the end of the video, the field didn't look so bad. Yes it was unplayable probably, but not that bad. And by the time the announcers signed off, it didn't seem like that huge a deal, in fact, the Sox had not yet forfeited game two. At sign off time they were talking about a Sunday doubleheader to make up the disco game. I think in anger at the Sox doing this promotion, the commissioner or AL president ruled it a forfeit well after the fans had left and the park had been cleared. 

Listen to the announcers signing off. They were not acting as if this was one of the biggest stories in modern baseball history, which it turned out to be. They were calm and signed off regular tone of voice.

 

This is true. I read, I believe in an interview of Mike Veeck, that the second game COULD have been played. Order had been restored and the field was clear. The umpires called it off because they were spooked by the events of the first game and the riot. It was the Tigers who felt that they shouldn't have to make up the game, as it wasn't an "Act of God" that caused the postponement, but rather was the White Sox's fault. 

[greg775]

7 hours ago, NO!!MARY!!! said:

This is true. I read, I believe in an interview of Mike Veeck, that the second game COULD have been played. Order had been restored and the field was clear. The umpires called it off because they were spooked by the events of the first game and the riot. It was the Tigers who felt that they shouldn't have to make up the game, as it wasn't an "Act of God" that caused the postponement, but rather was the White Sox's fault. 

Yes, it's possible that area of centerfield that actually was on fire at one point might have provided danger to the centerfielders and if players were finding record bits weeks later as somebody on here wrote, then there probably was reason to make the Sox forfeit Game Two. However again, by the time the announcers said goodbye, the Sox brass and cops had done a nice job of making things safe. Think about all those fans who had to be cleared from the neighborhood. Again, in a sign of the times, I think if that happened say, this past summer on a muggy night, I think there would have been a lot of injuries. Depending on the mood of the mob, maybe some deaths as in turning over cars, etc.

Edited October 21, 2019 by greg775