Idiocy by Lake Erie
One Cleveland fan painfully learns not to mess with Texas
Umpires declare forfeits in four American League games during the 1970s.
One is weather related; the other three because home fans run amok on the field, preventing play from continuing and forcing the umpires to declare a forfeit for the visiting teams.
One of those forfeits comes 50 years ago tonight in Cleveland, where the Indians host an ill-conceived “10-Cent Beer Night” for their game against the Texas Rangers.
The game – coincidentally, coming six days after the Indians visit Texas for the Rangers’ own “10-Cent Beer Night” – attracts a Tuesday night crowd of 25,134 at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium.
The cheap beer – 60,000 or so cups of it – also attracts plenty of drunks among those 25,134 a half-century ago tonight in Cleveland, where the Indians rally for two runs in the ninth to tie the score at 5.
By the time the ninth inning arrives, though, enough of those beer-fueled fans among the crowd of 25,134 feel bold enough to charge the field and steal the bases.
Coming to the aid of Jeff Burroughs
Some fans try to attack Texas right fielder Jeff Burroughs, leading his teammates to charge the field with bats in hand to defend him and for the umpires to declare a forfeit in favor of the Rangers.
Among those dodging flying hot dogs – and more lethal airborne folding chairs – is Texas first baseman Mike Hargrove, who also is a target of an errantly tossed wine bottle.
“About the second inning, fans started running back and forth across the outfield from the left-field bullpen to the right-field bullpen,” Hargrove recently tells The Associated Press on the approach of tonight’s 50th anniversary of the idiocy by Lake Erie.
“It started out with a couple of people doing it and then it was five, then 10, and then it was a whole bunch.”
Eventually, third base umpire and crew chief Nestor Chylak sees enough – especially after one of those flying folding chairs strikes him – and declares the forfeit.
“(The fans) were uncontrolled beasts,” Chylak tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer after the game. “I’ve never seen anything like it, except in a zoo.”
The Rangers escort Jeff Burroughs to safety on “10-Cent Beer Night”