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Disco Demolition Night--one of baseball's most ill-conceived promotions--caused a rare MLB forfeit on July 12, 1979. It occurred at Chicago's Comiskey Park between games of a Thursday doubleheader between the hometown White Sox and visiting Detroit Tigers. Popular Chicago disc jockey Steve Dahl had been fired from radio station WDAI when he mentioned--on the air--that he listened to the album-oriented rock of rival station WLUP rather than his own station's fare--predominantly disco tunes. Dahl was subsequently hired by WLUP, known locally as "The Loop."
The 1979 White Sox were a mediocre team struggling to attract decent crowds, so the team's management was willing to try anything to try to draw new fans. Dahl, in conjunction with Mike Veeck (son of then-White Sox owner Bill Veeck), devised a promotion: Anyone who brought a disco record to the ballpark would be admitted for just 98 cents. The records would be collected, placed in a large crate in center field, and blown up by Dahl between games. Dahl hyped the event on The Loop, hoping that 12,000 people might show up--double the typical Thursday attendance at Comiskey Park. The turnout exceeded all expectations. An estimated 90,000 people turned up at the 52,000-seat stadium. When the box office stopped selling tickets, thousands of people still got in by climbing over walls.
It was an atypical baseball crowd to be sure. Broadcasters Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall commented on the "strange people" wandering throughout the stands. When the crate was filled with records, stadium staff stopped collecting them. The "fans" who still had records soon realized they were shaped like frisbees. A few began to throw records from the stands during the game.
After the first game, a 4-1 Tigers' win, Dahl, clad in army fatigues and a helmet, proceeded to center field. The crate containing the records was rigged with explosives. Dahl led the crowd in chants of "Disco sucks!" prior to triggering the explosion. When detonated, the explosives tore a hole in the outfield grass and a small fire began burning. Dahl triumphantly circled the warning track in a jeep before leaving the field.
Once Dahl left, the White Sox started warming up for the second game, but thousands of fans rushed the field. Some lit more fires. Others pulled down the batting cage and wrecked it. Bases were stolen and chunks of the outfield grass were ripped away. Most trespassers wandered around aimlessly, though a number of participants burned banners, sat on the grass, ran from security and police and threw records into the air. Veeck and Caray used the PA system to implore the fans to vacate the field, but to no avail. Eventually the field was cleared by police in riot gear. Six people reported minor injuries and 39 were arrested for disorderly conduct. The field was so badly torn up that the umpires decided the second game could not be played. The next day American League president Lee MacPhail forfeited the second game to the Tigers on the grounds that the White Sox had not provided acceptable playing conditions. For the rest of the season, fielders complained about Comiskey Park's playing surface being substandard. No AL game has been forfeited since that night.
Tags:
baseball
riot
disco
Comiskey
Park
Added: 30th January 2012
Views: 1874
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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"Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius was found dead at his Sherman Oaks on home Wednesday morning.
Law enforcement sources said police arrived at Cornelius' home around 4 a.m. He apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.
The sources said there was no sign of foul play, but the Los Angeles Police Department was investigating.
Tags:
Don
Cornelius
Soul
Train
Creator
dead,
suicide
Added: 1st February 2012
Views: 270
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Posted By: Cliffy |
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You know, it is difficult to do something when you don't have the time, that is, until this time now.
I have been hooked up to a electroencephalograph machine all night, so I can get myself motivated with you with playin' a undesired mismatched game of the mind.
It is possible, you may even know it already. With you, it always simply amazes me how seemingly some of you know it or don't. Sure, I am not misleading you here at it either. Or am I?
Okay, let's get to the real action - shall we?
UPDATED:SOLVED
*E*
Tags:
94
Games
Presented
Seen
The
Movie
?
Added: 4th February 2012
Views: 340
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Posted By: Electricland |
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Okay, I have added another misplaced moment that you may of remembered last year. The only reason you can't remember it now is, I am the source of your confusion now with a developmental time for you that was way-up for discussion down the street, pass the doughnut shop you sporadically visited on the way to Burger King. Remember, for a time, it disrupted your dinnertime. Yes, this all takes practical intelligence to do. That is something that you got with you now. No, not the meals! Playing the picture game. Give it a try.
Know it?
UPDATED:SOLVED
*E*
Tags:
95
Movies
Popcorn
Candies
Refreshments
Added: 4th February 2012
Views: 369
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Posted By: Electricland |
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The Giants first home game was at the Polo Grounds on October 18, 1925, against the Frankford Yellow Jackets. When the Giants played their first game at the Meadowlands in New Jersey on October 10, 1976 the opponent was the Dallas Cowboys and a souvenir gift pack included a bumper sticker saying “Giants Stadium I Was There Opening Day,” a stadium picture, a small New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority flag, and a reprint of the October 18, 1925 program.
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Added: 5th February 2012
Views: 490
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Posted By: Cliffy |
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Florence Patterson Green never saw the front line. Her war was spent serving food, not dodging bullets.
But Green, who died on February 4, 2012, aged 110, was the last known surviving veteran of World War I. She was serving with the Women's Royal Air Force as a waitress at an air base in eastern England when the guns fell silent on November 11, 1918.
It was not until 2010 that she was officially recognized as a veteran after a researcher found her service record in Britain's National Archives.
Green died Saturday at the Briar House Care Home in King's Lynn, eastern England, two weeks before her 111th birthday, the home said.
Retired Air Vice-Marshal Peter Dye, director-general of the RAF Museum, said it was fitting that the last survivor of the first global war was someone who had served on the home front.
"In a way, that the last veteran should be a lady and someone who served on the home front is something that reminds me that warfare is not confined to the trenches," Dye said.
"It reminds us of the Great War, and all warfare since then has been something that involved everyone. It's a collective experience ... Sadly, whether you are in New York, in London, or in Kandahar, warfare touches all of our lives."
She was born Florence Beatrice Patterson in London on February 19, 1901, and joined the newly formed Women's Royal Air Force in September 1918 at the age of 17.
The service trained women to work as mechanics, drivers and in other jobs to free men for front-line duty. Green went to work as a steward in the officers' mess, first at the Narborough airdrome and then at RAF Marham in eastern England, and was serving there when the war ended. The photo below was taken in February 2010 at a celebration of Florence's 109th birthday.
Tags:
Florence
Patterson
Green
WWI
veteran
Added: 8th February 2012
Views: 436
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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