"Disco Demolition Night" may very well go down as the single most bizarre event in Major League Baseball history.
In 1979, disco was on its way out. That was probably a good thing. Disco is a pretty limited genre of music — so narrow in scope that it's almost a subgenre — and it's also not very good. One of disco's great enemies during its heyday was legendary radio broadcaster Steve Dahl, who during the disco years was working out of Chicago's WLUP.
This fellow hated disco so much that he formed an impromptu army of listeners dedicated to its ultimate destruction. And that's just what he tried to do at Disco Demolition Night.
During a meeting at WLUP, Dahl was asked if he would be interested in blowing up records at Comiskey Park on July 12 [during a double header between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers]. Since the radio frequency of WLUP was 97.9, the promotion for July 12, "Disco Demolition Night" (in addition to the offer for teenagers) was that anyone who brought a disco record to the ballpark would be admitted for 98 cents. Dahl was to blow up the collected records between games of the doubleheader.
Blowing up a giant stash of hard plastic discs in the middle of a crowded stadium — what could go wrong, right?
Pretty much everything went wrong, actually! Starting with the fact that the game itself was absolutely packed to capacity, never a good sign when you're getting ready to detonate an uncontrolled explosion:
The doubleheader sold out, leaving at least 20,000 people outside the ballpark Some leapt turnstiles, climbed fences, and entered through open windows. The attendance was officially reported as 47,795, though Bill Veeck estimated that there were anywhere from 50,000 to 55,000 in the park — easily the largest crowd of his second stint as White Sox owner.
Archival footage of the event demonstrates the sheer number of people in the stadium:
The Sox lost the first match, as is their wont, after which Dahl took the field like a generalissimo on his way to a state execution:
At 8:40, Dahl, dressed in army fatigues and a helmet, emerged onto the playing surface together with Meier and Lorelei. They circled the field in a Jeep, showered (according to Dahl, lovingly) by his troops with firecrackers and beer, then proceeded to center field where the box containing the records awaited, rigged with explosives.
Dahl announced his mission to the crowd in an address that would have made George Patton swell with patriotic pride:
This is now officially the world's largest anti-disco rally! Now listen — we took all the disco records you brought tonight, we got 'em in a giant box, and we're gonna blow 'em up reeeeeeal goooood.
And then...they did:
What happened next? Well, about what you'd expect: The rabid anti-disco forces stormed the field, reportedly setting fire to the scattered chunks of disco records, ripping up the grass, climbing foul poles...just total mayhem.
They were finally dispersed by the fortuitous arrival of Chicago's Finest:
At 9:08 p.m., Chicago police in riot gear arrived, to the applause of the baseball fans remaining in the stands. Those on the field hastily dispersed upon seeing the police. Thirty-nine people were arrested for disorderly conduct; estimates of injuries to those at the event range from none to over thirty.
Thank God for the boys in blue!
And how'd it work out for the White Sox in the end? Well, again, about how you'd expect:
The next day, [American League President Lee] MacPhail forfeited the second game to the Tigers 9 – 0. In a ruling that largely upheld Anderson's arguments, MacPhail stated that the White Sox had failed to provide acceptable playing conditions.
The understatement of the century!
What a great story from the greatest game on earth!
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