r/ThatsInsane • u/Mad_Season_1994 • 1d ago
Ten Cent Beer Night on June 4, 1974 at Cleveland Stadium between the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers. There was a limit of six beers per purchase and the game was ultimately forfeited
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u/TheGanjaGhecko 1d ago
2nd pic can't be the 1970s, there's a can of Monster Energy in the pile. Monster Energy was released in 2002.
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u/BlueHerringBeaver 1d ago
Ant they’re all modern pop tab cans too, they didn’t become common till the 80’s. I just looked and the modern can tabs weren’t even patented till 1975.
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u/LordFett84 1d ago
I was thrown off by the electric fence. Almost didn't notice the monster in the bottom left
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u/CreamoChickenSoup 1d ago edited 20h ago
The stencil art of modern race cars are another obvious indicator.
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u/BigheadReddit 1d ago
And a good time was had by all. On par with the disco inferno, just with more beer and streakers.
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u/Grammy-Norma-ASMR 1d ago
I urge you to listen to “The Dollop” (Episode 15) on Ten Cent Beer night, it’s the hardest I’ve ever laughed
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u/YoGrizzly 1d ago
This is the first episode of The Dollop I listened to. Absolutely hilarious.
“What you heard was six per person. What I said was 6 per purchase!”
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u/pjacks2 1d ago
Great photos! Where are they from?
Here's an interview I did with a couple of guys who are out there somewhere.
https://www.project-318.com/p/reremembering-ten-cent-beer-night
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u/Kind-Shallot3603 1d ago
The dollop had a great episode on this
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0mww7NYI76KAHJtRhFZrOi?si=xeTVxPwPQhaW4KMB-NSBgw
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u/Twystyd 1d ago
Jim Beam came in a can?!
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u/kinkdork 1d ago
I wasn’t alive at the time but recently they had pre mixed beam and cola. It kinda looks like it says cola on the bottom of the cans so that’s all I can think of it being.
Possible they just did plain cola at the time as well I guess.
Just a guess
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u/milehigh73a 1d ago
Growing up, the rangers would have quarter beer night. They were small beers but my father could drink a lot of them.
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u/sokocanuck 1d ago
That pile of cans looks to be around 50% Coke...
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u/southpaw85 1d ago
You can’t convince me that this wasn’t some sort of social experiment dreamt up by a psychology student for their thesis. 10 cent beers? 6 beer limit? So roughly twice as many as you need to actually get a buzz going. Also, those guys selling the beers aren’t keeping count for every single person and probably honestly don’t care if they’re getting tipped.
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u/-HeyThatsPrettyNeat- 1d ago
The Dollop podcast did an episode on this
I love those guys, they make history funny
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u/Mad_Season_1994 1d ago
Ten Cent Beer Night was a promotional event held by the Cleveland Indians on June 4, 1974, at Cleveland Stadium. The team offered ten-cent beers (the equivalent of about 60 cents today), with a limit of six beers per purchase—but no limit on the number of purchases.
Here’s a quick summary of what happened:
• The idea was to boost attendance, which it did—drawing over 25,000 fans, more than double the usual crowd.
• Fans got heavily intoxicated due to the cheap and virtually unlimited beer.
• As the night went on, the crowd became increasingly unruly and violent.
• There were streakers, fans throwing things at players, fireworks set off in the stands, and even a woman running onto the field flashing the crowd.
• The chaos peaked in the 9th inning when a fan tried to steal a Texas Rangers player’s cap. This sparked a full-on riot.
• Both teams had to fight their way off the field with bats as weapons.
• The game was forfeited to the Rangers, and several people were arrested.
The event has gone down as one of the most infamous nights in baseball history and a cautionary tale about mixing alcohol and sports.