BURROUGHS

Forty years ago, the Indians staged Ten Cent Beer Night at the old stadium -- and it ended, infamously, with a riot, the Texas Rangers, including Jeff Burroughs, center above, leaving the field armed with bats and the Indians forfeiting the game. Longtime sportswriter and broadcaster Dan Coughlin shares his memories of that night with Michael Heaton. (AP Photo/Cleveland Press, Paul Tepley)

Dan Coughlin, 75, author, retired sportswriter and television broadcaster sat in the Florida room of his Fairview Park home talking about the infamous Ten-Cent Beer night he covered 40 years ago today -- June 4, 1974. Just beyond his backyard a group of kids were gathered in Linden Park playing baseball. Coughlin began the interview by offering his box score from that historic game. His story about the game appeared in his book, "Crazy, With the Papers To Prove It."

He spoke with Plain Dealer reporter Michael Heaton.

Q. Looking back how would you sum up Ten-Cent Beer Night?

A. There were 25,134 fans.

60,000 Genesee beers at 10 cents each.

50 cops.

19 streakers

7 emergency room injuries.

9 arrests.

2 bare moons.

2 bouncing breasts.

1 sportswriter punched in the jaw.

It was the perfect storm. If they ever make a movie out of it, George Clooney will have to play the lead.

Q. I understand this was not the Indians' first event of this kind.

A. In 1971 they had a nickel beer night. It was a sun spangled Sunday afternoon. There were strolling musicians in costumes. It could not have been nicer.

Q. So what went wrong just three years later?

A. Everything. The Tribe had just come from Ten-Cent Beer Night in Texas where fans had thrown beer and food on them. When Rangers manager Billy Martin had been asked by the press if he was worried about retaliation from Cleveland fans, he said Cleveland didn't have enough fans for them to worry about. Sports radio host Pete Franklin spent an entire week on the radio whipping Cleveland fans into a frenzy over the Billy Martin insult. The place was full of college kids home from school for the summer. A lot of people showed up already drunk before the game even started. Did I mention there was a full moon that night?

Q. Could you tell the crowd was drinking up a storm?

A. The late Tim Russert was there that night. When asked how many beers he drank he said that he had two dollars with him. Then he said, "You do the math."

Q. What was the first sign of trouble?

A. Very early in the game Leron Lee hit a line drive into the stomach of pitcher Ferguson Jenkins. The crowd started chanting, "Hit him again! Hit him again! Harder! Harder!" Something outrageous from the crowd happened every inning.

Q. Did announcers try and talk to the crowd?

A. The stadium people had announcer Herb Score implore the fans not to run on the field. It had no effect. A woman ran out and lifted her shirt and flashed the crowd. A father and son mooned the crowd and then slid into second base. More and more people began streaking through the outfield.

Q. When did it turn from silly to nasty?

A. Late in the game fans started throwing cherry bombs on top of the Rangers' dugout. That's when things got menacing. A fan ran out and grabbed Ranger player Jeff Burroughs' hat. Burroughs went to kick the kid and fell. From the dugout Billy Martin thought his player had been attacked. That's when the whole Ranger team charged the field with bats. The Indians even defended the Rangers as a form of professional courtesy. The game was called then because fans had stolen all three bases. The game couldn't continue.

Q. Did anyone from the Indians front office get fired?

A. Jackie York and Carl Fazio were the Indians promotional team responsible for the event. The next morning they were called into Indians managing partner Ted Bonda's office. They were sure they would be fired. He told them he had booked them both flights to Milwaukee where they were having their Ten Cent Beer Night. He said, "Go find out how they do it."

Q. How did you get punched?

A. I'd had a few beers and was leaving the stadium. I had my reporter's notebook with me. A dozen high school kids were standing on top of the Rangers dugout, yelling for them to come out and fight. I asked them what they thought they were doing. I told them the Rangers weren't even in the stadium anymore. That's when a kid came out of the crowd and socked me. It didn't phase me. I could take a punch back then. That's when I decided to get out of there.