Steve Dahl - 30 years ago this week

[RealityCheck]

NY Times sports section today lets us go back, back, waaay back to catch a memory from July 12, 1979 . . .

. . . when the Tigers 'won' the second game of a twilight double-header at Comiskey Park by forfeit because . . .

. . . of a classic Disco Demolition Night stunt cooked up by a former Detroit DJ and Mike Veeck, son of legendary White Sox owner Bill Veeck.

I remember from the get-go, it wasn’t a normal crowd. The outfielders were definitely a little scared, and Ronnie [LeFlore] wasn’t usually afraid of anything.

Too young to know why Alan Trammell says that? Click here and see what MLB was like 30 years ago.

[Gannon]

Thanks for the flashback. Left a crater in the outfield. He was the same guy who ordered Kentucky Fried Chicken for the hostages in Iran. Always in Howard Stern's lead...

[Gannon]

“The great thing was all the kids were stoned,� he said. When asked to explain, Veeck said marijuana’s effects were milder than those of beer. “Had we had drunks to deal with, then we would have had some trouble,� he said. “The kids were really docile.�

True that. LOL

[jackie5275]

NY Times sports section today lets us go back, back, waaay back to catch a memory from July 12, 1979 . . .

. . . when the Tigers 'won' the second game of a twilight double-header at Comiskey Park by forfeit because . . .

. . . of a classic Disco Demolition Night stunt cooked up by a former Detroit DJ and Mike Veeck, son of legendary White Sox owner Bill Veeck.
Too young to know why Alan Trammell says that? Click here and see what MLB was like 30 years ago.

Trammell speaking of LeFlore? Everyone at the time knew LeFlore had been a convicted felon that Billy Martin recruited out Jackson Prison after seeing him play prison ball in the early 1970s. I guess Trammell thought a convicted felon shouldn't be afraid of a riot.

[diver1369]

Forget nickel beer, bring back the nickel bag!!

[diver1369]

I watched the end of the first game and the Disco Demolition on TV that night. I thought it was brilliant. George Kell and Al Kaline reacted like Nazis to the harmless fun taking place on the field tho' I don't condone their destruction of private property. The Times reporter, Joe Lapointe, who wrote this article used to work in the mail room at Detroit General Hospital in the early 70s.

[reddog289]

Having being 10 yrs old at the time I thought all Disco was gonna stop, That was one of the first times outta many I was wrong.

[lafayette]

Heard a good story on the disco demolition from WDET's Joan Silvi last week on Detroit Today.

[RealityCheck]

OK, Lafayette, you've got our attention now with that intriguing tease ^. . . . Care to share any tidbit[[s) from that goood story you heard?

[pffft]

Disco Demolition night was a stunt -- it wasn't a big scary riot.

[cloud_wall]

Sportscenter did a long segment on it yesterday that was surprisingly good. It may not have been a riot, but it was considerably crazier than anything I've seen on a pro-sports venue in a while, including the Artest melee at the Palace.

Of course, the South Side has a proud tradition of that kind of thing. I think it was just a couple years ago that a father and son team jumped the rail and attacked the Royals' first base coach for no apparent reason. That was more malicious than the disco demo stuff, obviously, but the sheer number of people going crazy on the field that night was impressive.

[pffft]

It was rock and roll, crazy, but it's mostly those who weren't around at the time or didn't know Dahl and his propensity for stunts who think it was dangerous...