It's kind of amazing just how much crazy shit went down in baseball during the middle of July in the 1970s. Most of you probably know that yesterday was the 33rd anniversary of the ill-fated "Disco Demolition Night" promotion at Comiskey Park, wherein thousands of wasted kids high on beer, bad weed and general teenage idiocy rushed the field between games of a double-header, tearing it up and causing the second contest between the Tigers and the White Sox to be cancelled (and later forfeited to Detroit). G-Town Radio's Tom Casetta, who interviewed me earlier this week for his righteous Listen Up! show, referred to the event during our chat as the "Altamont" of 70s baseball, which seems pretty right-on, though I was hard-pressed at the time to come up with a "Woodstock" equivalent for the decade. (Though in retrospect, maybe it was the '76 All-Star Game?) But oh, babies, there was so much more that happened this week in 70s baseball...
For one thing, tonight is the 35th anniversary of the New York City blackout, which (among other things) plunged Shea Stadium into darkness — save for the ballpark's rudimentary emergency lights, as seen above — in the sixth inning of a Cubs-Mets contest, just as Mets third baseman Lenny Randle stepped to the plate against Ray Burris. In the interest of keeping the 14,626 people in attendance from panicking, Bud Harrelson, Craig Swan and several other Mets players drove their cars on to the field and performed a headlight-lit pantomimed ballgame for the amusement of the crowd.
And of course, on this date in 1971, Reggie Jackson went yard on Dock Ellis in the 4th inning of the All-Star Game, crushing the ball so mightily that it was still heading into orbit when it hit a power generator on top of Tiger Stadium's right field roof, at least 520 feet from home plate. Five other players homered in the AL's 6-4 victory that day: Johnny Bench, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson and Harmon Killebrew. All of them, including Reggie, ended up in the Hall of Fame. Dock wasn't tripping that day, but — according to this piece by Jeffrey Radice, one of the guys behind the upcoming No-No: A Dockumentary (About Dock Ellis), he was pretty looped on screwdrivers and speed when he took the mound in Detroit.
A quick side note: Radice and his crew are trying to raise money to fund their film via Kickstarter; they've only got a few days left to go, and they're still far short of their $35,000 goal — which means that, if they don't make it to $35,000 in pledges, they won't get a single penny of the money that's already been pledged. This is going to be a really entertaining and important film, and anyone who loves baseball, especially the 70s version, should support it if they can. So please, if you have a few (or more) bucks you can spare, do the badass thing and click HERE to pledge before Tuesday...
Okay, where were we? Ah, yes — the Atlanta Braves' first "Headlock and Wedlock Night" promotion was held on July 11, 1976. One of many wacky-to-downright-bizarre promotions thought up by Braves publicity director Bob Hope during the early years of Ted Turner's ownership, when the Braves desperately needed to do something (anything!) to lure fans to Fulton County Stadium, the event began with a number of couples (reports range anywhere from 9 to 34 in total) walking under an archway of bats held by ten players from the Braves and Mets to home plate, where they were joined in holy matrimony. After the game (which the Braves actually won 9-8 on a bases-loaded double by Willie Montanez), a wrestling ring was set up in the stadium's "picnic area," where anyone willing to stick around and swelter in the July humidity was welcome to watch a four-match Georgia Championship Wrestling card topped by Abdullah the Butcher (pictured above), who was pitted against Mr. Wrestling #2. Hope claimed that the weddings and the rasslin' were supposed to be separate promotions, but that someone on his staff accidentally double-booked them for the same game. In any case, somebody seriously needs to bring this promotion back...
Which brings us to a memorable promotion that somebody IS bringing back. Two years ago, when my book was first released, I did a reading/signing event at Liar's Club in Chicago that we called "AOR Demolition Night" — books were signed, 70s AM gold was spun, cold beer was quaffed, crappy 70s rock records were smashed in the name of redressing the karmic imbalance created by the destruction of all that sweet disco wax at Comiskey in 1979, and a rockin' good time was had by all. Well, now that Big Hair and Plastic Grass is available in paperback, it's time (in the immortal words of Steely Dan) to go back, Jack, and do it again!
One week from tonight (July 20), all baseball-loving Chicagoans are hereby cordially invited to join me at Liar's Club (1665 W. Fullerton, 60614) from 8:30pm to midnight for an evening of funky (and not-so-funky) music, cold beer, baseball talk and maybe a few surprises. I will be reading aloud from my writings and signing my book — paperback copies of which will be on sale at the venue via The Book Cellar, the Nort' Side's finest book emporium. DJ John San Juan will be spinning the '70s AM gold all night, and we're going to once again be destroying a whole mess o' crappy '70s rock vinyl. Bring a '70s album by Styx, REO Speedwagon, Survivor, Orleans, Tycoon, Starcastle, Point Blank, etc. to be sacrificed, and receive a "special gift" courtesy of Pabst Blue Ribbon. The event is FREE, so Don your afro wig, your '70s threads and/or retro baseball jersey, and get down with us! I wanna see a sea of 'fros out there, people! Do it for me, do it for you, do it for Oscar Gamble...
And anyone that posts a picture of Abdullah the Butcher is automatically okay in my book.
Posted by: Chris | 08/06/2012 at 01:10 PM