Ah, the rallying cry for so many guys and gals like Johnny back in the late 70's and tonight is the anniversary our talisman in the fight against disco said no more. WLUP radio jock Steve Dahl (who Johnny has met a couple times) blowed up a whole bunch of disco records at Chicago's Comiskey Park between games of a doubleheader with Detroit...A LOT of disco records which inspired a lot of the crowd to charge the field, start fires, climb the foul poles and come roaring in from outside once things got out of control.
Tonight here is a magnificent oral history of the Disco Demolition, which was originally called 'Teen Night' from Steve Dahl, the White Sox organization, police and fans who were there that infamous night. A night you'll come to see might well have been the best baseball promotion in history; The White Sox were drawing about 18,000 fans a game in a stadium that seated 45,000.
Yankees, Mets and this one Tigers fan always feel that opening day is indeed the harbinger of true Spring. The smell of hot dogs, people congregating in big numbers outside all shaking off the winter's chill. Play Ball!
Let Tigers' announcing legend, Ernie Harwell, welcome Spring as he did every opening day with a short poem, 'The Voice of the Turtle'
The Yankees, still very much in the American League playoff picture have made no deals today while the Red Sox it would seem are cleaning house. After the Sox dealt Lester to Oakland maybe the Yanks brass thinks it might just be too perilous to part with assets with the A's, Angels and Tigers all looking so good.
We'll know in an hour.
4:48pm -- The Yankees made two deadline deals. And whom did they make one of them with? None other than the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees acquired Stephen Drew for Kelly Johnson and cash considerations.
OK, it's an April Fool's joke on an Opening Day Monday. The Yankees can only HOPE to get Justin Verlander if perhaps the Tigers organization takes silly pills.
However baseball fans, for the first time since the 1950's the Yankees and Metropolitans will open at home in the same day at the same time, 1pm.
Johnny actually sees a World Series rematch this year, with his picks of the San Francisco Giants and the Detroit Tigers now set in stone. Wanna talk some baseball? Why you've come to the right place. Drop some predictions or trade possibilities for the Yanks and Mets in comments.
Justin Verlander doesn't pitch for the Mets. This probably gives Mets fans a sad but it's a fact. Verlander pitches for the Detroit Tigers. However yesterday Verlander did pitch against the New York Metropolitans in spring training and oh what a day. Mets second baseman/infielder Jordany Valdespin was in the lineup to face Verlander in a game he'll probably never forget.
Now, Valdespin has a reputation as being a bit of a freewheeler or showoff from time to time. He does things that might just make other players not like you. In fact Mets manger Terry Collins told the NY Post:
Collins has told Valdespin this spring to eliminate some of his antics, warning that he might become a target for pitchers. One such warning came two weeks ago after Valdespin faked a bunt leading off a game against Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg. In the same at-bat, Valdespin singled and received a glare from Strasburg as he ran to first base. “We’re going to settle some of that stuff down,” Collins said. “[Valdespin] has been told a lot in the last couple of years about how to handle himself on the major league field, especially when you are a young player. He understands it, he’s adjusting to it and once in a while you always get caught up in the moment.
So here was Valdespin facing Verlander, who had already hit a home run leading off the game, in the fifth inning. He took two big swings at the first two pitches then for some reason opened up to bunt. Valdespin’s penchant for flying open early on bunt attempts leaves him vulnerable, said one Mets instructor. And vulnerable he was as Verlander's next pitch, a 94 mph fastball, hit Valdespin right in the family jewels. Square in the nuts. Not a real problem though, after all baseball players wear protective cups.
Not Valdespin.
No, you read that right, Valdespin doesn't wear a cup which is why the Verlander fastball knocked Valdespin right out of the game. Mets skipper Terry Collins was none too amused his second baseman wasn't wearing a cup:
“You would think if you are starting at second base, you would be smart enough to wear a cup.”
No word on if Valdespin, no doubt getting a day off today, was seen in any local sporting goods stores looking for cups.
The Garden Sate Parkway where I-95 crosses over is going to be down to one lane for up to six weeks after yesterday's fatal accident. You can read more on this traffic mess and more on the hopes it can be averted quicker than that can be found here.
That got your attention didn't it? In easily the sexiest first round MLB playoff series Johnny's going with Verlander, Valverde and Cabrera to knock off the Bronx Bombers in five games. The Tigers defense will most likely cost them a game but in thinking back a few years ago when the Yanks played Detroit, with the supposed "best Yankee team ever" New York fizzled against the Tigers pitching. We see that happening again.
Other series:
Texas over Tampa Bay in four Phillies over the Cardinals in three because it can't be two Milwaukee over Arizona in four
With Boston on the verge of yet another historic collapse, whom would you like to see the Yankees play in round one? The Rangers? The Motor City Kitties? A wildcard? Do tell...
It was one of, if not THE best baseball promotions ever, it's still talked about and rehashed today by people like Johnny. On July 12th, 1979 the Chicago White Sox were playing a doubleheader against the visiting Detroit Tigers at the old Comiskey Park in Chi-town. Mike Veeck, the son of owner Bill Veeck decided to hip things up a bit and try to get some butts in the seats. So he contacted legendary Chicago WLUP disc jockey Steve Dahl to run 'Disco Demolition Night' in which fans could get in for .98¢ if they brought a disco record to be added to the hopper to be blown up between games of the doubleheader. The White Sox planned for maybe 30,000 fans, what they got was 60,000 rowdy kids showing up for what was originally promoted at 'Teen Night' before it became 'Disco Demolition Night'. Many fans who couldn't get inside Comiskey Park continually tried breaking down gates and barriers to get inside. There were reports of some fans bringing ladders to the park to get inside over gates.
As the first game of the doubleheader played out, players realized things were somehow, well, not the usual fare. For starters, the sweet smell of marijuana was wafting through the stadium all through game one. Some fans who couldn't get their disco records they brought to the hopper simply used them as frisbees. Said former Tiger (and NY Met) Rusty Staub: “They would slice around you and stick in the ground. It wasn’t just one, it was many. Oh, God almighty, I’ve never seen anything so dangerous in my life. I begged the guys to put on their batting helmets.”
Then came the disco record blow up. Dahl gave a huge countdown in centerfield and KABOOM went thousands and thousands of disco records. The fans took this as an invitation to join Dahl on the field. First the bases vanished, then the pitching rubber was dug out, next went home plate. A batting cage was dragged onto the field and destroyed. Fans climbed foul poles, they hung from the second level over the first. Up next was the roaring campfire out in center field. By the time they did get the fans off the field it was deemed too dangerous to play on and the White Sox were forced to forfeit the second game of the doubleheader to the Tigers by umpire Nestor Chylak. In some kind of cosmic baseball fate, Chylak was also the home plate umpire for another ill fated yet famous baseball promotion (and forfeit), 10¢ beer night in Cleveland in 1974.
Disco did die a very public death that night at the hands of Steve Dahl, Garry Meier and the kids with DREAD cards (A promotion Dahl had started years earlier while on in Detroit--DREAD--Detroit Rockers Engaged in the Abolition of Disco) of which Johnny was one. Disco died and all it took was one forfeit by the White Sox. All in all a great trade for American society.
Two video clips for you, an 'as it happened' news coverage and then Steve Dahl discussing Disco Demolition with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.
Boy as a Detroit area kid who was coming of age in the 1970's Mark Fidrych was a local folk hero. The free spirit Tigers pitcher sure shook things up for a year. Johnny always felt baseball got cheated by his shoulder injury cutting short his run. Apparently Fidrych was working on a truck on his farm in Massachusetts and it fell on him.
