June 4, 1974: 10-cent beer riot at Cleveland Stadium leads to forfeit – Society for American...

On June 4, 1974, 10 cent Beer Night at Cleveland Stadium led to chaos as the Indians had to forfeit to the Rangers. I remember this so well! Billy Martin made some snide remarks the week before which infuriated Cleveland Indian fans. From the article:

"To place the Cleveland riot in full perspective, it is helpful to know of events from the Rangers’ own 10-Cent Beer Night in Arlington, Texas, on May 29, in which the Indians were the opponent. In the bottom of the fourth inning of that game, Texas’s Lenny Randle “slammed his shoulder into the midsection of Jack Brohamer,”3 Cleveland’s second baseman, in an attempt to break up a double play. Indians reliever Milt Wilcox retaliated in the eighth inning with a pitch “that actually passed about six inches behind Randle’s head.”4 Randle laid down a bunt on the next pitch and intentionally collided with Wilcox as he ran up the baseline; for good measure, he also “tried to butt first baseman John Ellis square in the nuts,” at which point fisticuffs ensued.5 Once order was restored on the field, some overly zealous Rangers fans showered the Indians’ players and manager Ken Aspromonte with food and beer as they returned to their dugout.

Since the Rangers were due to play in Cleveland a mere six days later, reporters asked Rangers manager Billy Martin if he was concerned that the Indians’ faithful might respond in kind. Martin joked, “They don’t have enough fans there to worry about.”6 That was certainly true on an average night in Cleveland in 1974 as “85 percent of the seats at home games went unsold,” but June 4 would be different.7 In response to the Texas fans’ action and Martin’s insulting quip, Pete Franklin, host of Cleveland’s “Sportsline” program, “spent an entire week on the radio whipping Cleveland fans into a frenzy” against the Rangers.8 To that recipe for retaliation, the Indians’ top brass added 10-cent beer, which attracted 25,134 spectators.

The six-beer limit fell by the wayside early as demand exceeded supply at the concession stands and the decision was made to allow fans to have their cups filled directly from the beer trucks that were parked behind the outfield fences.9 A significant number of the fans quickly became inebriated, and their actions soon overshadowed those of the players on the field. This fact became evident after the Rangers’ Tom Grieve opened the scoring with a one-out solo home run off Fritz Peterson in the top of the second inning. As the next batter, Jim Fregosi, stood at the plate, a woman ran into the Indians’ on-deck circle, bared her breasts to the crowd, and then attempted to kiss crew chief Nestor Chylak, who was umpiring at third base."

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