Tuesday Trivia: Three of a kind
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.
Only one player – lucky or unlucky; take your pick – is on the field for all three of these fan-related forfeits.
But first, before we introduce our mystery player, some background here on the games.
The 1971 forfeit in Washington, D.C.
The first of those three games on Sept. 30, 1971 in Washington, D.C., where in their final game before moving to Texas the Senators are leading New York 7-5 when fans storm the field.
When they refuse to leave, the umpires declare a forfeit, giving the Yankees the victory.
The second forfeit comes on June 4, 1974 in Cleveland, where the Indians host an ill-conceived “10-Cent Beer Night” for their game against the Texas Rangers.
The game attracts a crowd of 25,134. The beer – 60,000 or so cups of it – attracts plenty of drunks among those 25,134.
By the time the ninth inning arrives enough feel bold enough to charge the field and steal the bases.
“10-Cent Beer Night” in Cleveland in 1974
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 the umpires to declare a forfeit in favor of the Rangers.
The third forfeit comes before the second game of a scheduled twi-night doubleheader between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox on July 12, 1979 at Comiskey Park.
The first game goes swimmingly well for the Tigers, who win 4-1 before a crowd of 47,795 fans, who have more interest in the between-games promotion than it does in either game.
“Disco Demolition Night” in 1979
The promotion is “Disco Demolition Night” and has a simple premise: bring a disco record to the ballpark and watch as it – along with thousands of other such records – meets its demise in a control explosion on the field.
Turns out the explosion is a mess with the crowd even messier as thousands of fans pour onto the field and never leave. Again, forcing the umpires to declare a forfeit, this time giving the second game to the Tigers for a most unconventional sweep of a doubleheader.
Rusty Torres, witness to history
Turns out there is one player who is in the lineup for all three of those games.
Twice he plays for the home team, once for the visitors.
The player?
That would be right fielder Rusty Torres, who over the three games goes 2-for-4 for the Yankees with a home run in the 1971 forfeit; 1-for-1 as a pinch-hitter for Cleveland in the 1974 beer debacle and 1-for-3 on “Disco Demolition Night.”
"That’s my claim to fame," Torres says of the three forfeits.
“That and being the first ballplayer George Steinbrenner traded from the Yankees (in November 1972). People ask me all the time about playing for Steinbrenner. I tell them, ‘I don’t know, because I was the first Yankee the Boss booted off the team.’ ”