One 10-cent beer night to go
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America was once great.
The big pitcher: It was possible to go to a baseball game for just a few bucks and buy a beer for 10 cents.
- But, we can't have fun anymore because baseball fans got a little crazy in the '70s.
Flashback: The Texas Rangers "won" a game on this date in 1974 because fans drank so much 10-cent beer they stormed the Cleveland ballfield.
- The umpires called the tied game for Texas after fans attacked Rangers outfielder Jeff Burroughs.
What happened: Cleveland advertised the 10-cent beer night to attract more fans. There were 25,134 fans listed in the stands that night. They drank about 60,000 cups of beer.
- By midway through the game, at least one fan had run across the field naked and others had mooned and flashed their fellow spectators.
The scene: Cleveland rallied to tie the game in the ninth inning but fans were too drunk by then to stay calm. They attacked the umpires and Rangers.
- An inebriated woman, still holding her purse, headed toward the pitcher's mound until police escorted her away.
The intrigue: The debacle occurred less than a week after the bench-clearing "Texas brawl" in Arlington.
- The Rangers had hosted their own 10-cent beer nights without the same level of drama as in Cleveland.
The bottom line: If we had a time machine, we would go back to this day just to watch the mayhem.