It's hard to describe what it was like growing up in the 70s and 80s to people that are much younger and weren't born until the 90s or later. I can just tell you it was a simpler life but it was a more enjoyable life. I really look back at the 70s and 80s and miss them greatly.
I was at Disco Demolition Night with two of my brothers. We had seats in the right field upper deck. Didn't try to run onto the field. Years later after I moved to LA; I took my then girlfriend, now wife, to Dodger Stadium for a game featuring a free baseball giveaway to everyone in attendance. The date was Aug. 10, 1995, the night the Dodgers forfeited a home game vs. the Cardinals because of souvenir balls thrown onto the field. What was the possibility of being in attendance to two MLB forfeitures? I must be lucky.
At Cleveland Stadium the used to give out those miniature bat's with a Chief Wahoo Dec on it. Don't know how many little brothers, friends or strangers got a knock on the noggin. Or 10cent beer night. What could go wrong?
According to Wikipedia, "There have been only five forfeits in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1954; the last forfeit was in 1995, and prior to that, 1979. Since 1914, there has only been one incident where a team deliberately made a decision to forfeit a game, by the 1977 Baltimore Orioles."
i was there--sean cassidy album got me in for 98 cents-----brought a six inch john travolta disco doll witj me --lit it on fire-----7th grade summer--great time...
I was at a Sox game in the mid-1970s at Comiskey Park. A home run was blasted and I heard the booms of the exploding scoreboard's fireworks and I never ever wanted to go to a Sox park like that ever again for the rest of 1970s. The booms of the fireworks were so scary for me. So...if the Sox's exploding scoreboard's fireworks was one reason for Disco Demolition, the scoreboard that existed since 1960 was probably the main prelude to this demolition.
The legendary Nancy Faust with a little “Louie, Louie” for Lou Whitaker at 12:55. Was way ahead of her time and set a precedent for ballpark organ music.
I saw this on live TV. It was insane. The field was in pretty bad shape for the rest of the season, which caused rainouts on at least a couple of days when it wasn't raining all that much.
I'm glad to return to TH-cam again! Thank you for uploading of classic MLB games. I'm looking forward to the baseball's good old days video you possess.
1:35:00 mark - Did you hear the "crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack"? They were not cracks of the bats, but the way I heard the cracks were "crackling snaps", and I can confirm that the crackles were from the detonations of firecrackers from somewhere in the stands.
Many thanks to Classic MLB1 for this upload! It's a fascinating slice of pop culture history, especially for those of us who only knew about "Disco Demolition" night by reputation and from a distance.
I wonder how the crowd would have reacted if Fine Young Cannibals "Good Thing", Simply Red's "If You Don't Know Me By Now" and Janet Jackson's "Miss You Much" were playing on the PA system. All #1 Billboard American pop hits from 1989. Better yet, traveling to 1999 Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca." and Jennifer Lopez's "If You Had My Love," If we could only travel to the future.
The funny thing was, the game against Detroit on July 12, 1979 was originally scheduled as a single game, but a rainout back on May 3 made it a doubleheader. The crowd of 47,795 was the largest Comiskey would see all season.
I remember Jason Thompson knocking the Ball Outta DA PARK numerous times live, and Lance Parrish rocketing the Ball out the Park too. talk about Heavee Hittas! The had huge wrists and Popeye forearms, that’s how you do it! When Tigers won it all in 84’. It was a full blown RIOT! Overturned cop cars, Hundreds of Arsons!
I got an idea for a special demolition night:HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS!
Mike Colbern had a great stance at the plate. The marbles hung low, and he could really dangle them over the plate. It was a formidable distraction to any opposing pitcher. The lefty and and the righty exuded attention, and added irony whenever the count was two balls.
At the time of this game, Ring My Bell was the #1 song in the country. Going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing Harry and Jimmy didn't race out to the record stores looking for the latest Anita Ward album.
Nothing against Greg Gumbel but in 1979 he was up against two larger than life personalities in Tim Wiegel & Johnny Morris a few years later Mark Giangreco
I'd forgotten how funny Steve Dahl was. I went to Loopfest at the old dumpy Chicago Amphitheatre and saw a shit-ton of Chicago bands, saw Steve and Gary broadcasting live catty-corner from the Wrigley center field gates on 8/8/88. When the Cubs were in San Diego in '84, Steve and Gary were broadcasting live from the Cubs' hotel lobby, Harry Caray and Steve Stone entered the hotel. Harry was all buddy-buddy with Steve and Gary, Stone wanted nothing to do with them.
0:42: Piersall: "Between the fireworks, the music, the disco music, the burning of the, at the thing, you know you're lucky you don't go nuts here. You know, I've been there. I wanna tell you there's a big chance of going nuts. How can you even read the lineups when you can't even think - right now there's 30,000 kids and they've got dirty signs all over this park. I wanna tell ya, unbelievable." Kind of foreshadowing for the night.
I recognized the pyrotechnic setup for the blow-up. 13-14 mortar tubes, attached by permacord and fuses, not electrically fired. A hand-firer lit the fuse to set off the pyro salutes and the dynamite. Each mortar probably contained up to 600 grams of salute powder (pyrotechnic composition), and the diameter is likely 7 inches in each mortar tube. The explosions were ground salutes strong enough in concussion to shake the ground (130 decibels probably). After that, a second strand of permacord led to the main target - the big box containing the disco records, and there were about 1 or 2 sticks of dynamite rigged inside the box attached to the permacord. When the line of fire hit the permacord under the box, it ignited the dynamite inside or under the box - AND THAT IS HOW THE DISCO RECORDS WENT UP EXPLOSIVELY INTO THE SKY AND FELL AS SHARDS AS IT LANDED BACK INTO THE OUTFIELD GRASS.
@@russellguercio5357 I studied a lot about fireworks on the Internet recently - everything on how stuff is fired to how professional displays are done. In 1979, I did not even know too much about pyrotechnics until I heard the explosions every 4th of July, but I did not know how they work or why some people celebrate with them.
Well, I was trying to delve for years into Dahl's mentioning of "Snatnos" before - and after - the record blow-up. Maybe in my intuition was that Snatnos was the DJ, a probable pro-rock-and-roller (I do not know if he worked on the WLUP station) somewhere in the PA booth in the upper deck, who was going to spin on the PA system of the ballpark "Don't Ya Think I'm Disco" on Dahl's command, but I am guessing why Snatnos was not allowed to do it live at the ballpark - probably for copyright reasons Snatnos was not allowed to play that parody (even though it would be allowed under Section 107 of the copyright law), but somehow, this copyright prohibition was circumvented somehow without any knowledge to me - and somehow, fortunately, television viewers did get their say and got the chance to hear the "Don't Ya" song after all. Pretty sad that all of those pro-rock-and-rollers at the ballpark were unable to hear the DJed version but what saved them was when Nancy Faust - an extremely keen "human jukebox on the baseball organ" - saved face for the rock-and-roll fans, doing almost the exact version of the original Rod Stewart song........
Enrico Pallazzo's sonny w/The National Anthem, Harry & Jimmy, Bill Veeck, Steve Dahl & Disco Demolition. 2 days before my birthday in the neighborhood. Good times!
Even more ironic. The year that this happened, the World Series was won by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and their theme song was "We Are Family," a DISCO song.
Awesome vid. I was a huge Ron LeFlore fan, as he was from the East Side of Detroit like I was. He was one of the great base stealers of his time. Unfortunately, drugs took him down during the height of his career.
To those that read this comment.i find this very disspointing. I am a Orioles fan but I also was a fan of Ron leflore wish for his succes..in baseball.and to eternal overcome these or those demonic call.of the streat
When they played the last game at Tiger Stadium on September 27, 1999...old time players came for the after game festivities. Ron LeFlore came. Police hauled him off the field, serving an arrest warrant for child support. It was sad. I was a big fan of his. What a great story his MLB opportunity was!
My memory was bad enough, but 41 years ago on Sunday, that infamous baseball game in Chicago was followed by all those records breaking on the playing field! And Steve Dahl broke a record in front of Tom Snyder--and someone known as meatloaf! Mister Dahl devastated discography on TV! (Now that was breaking news in 1979!)
Seeing the game itself was cool as the whole scenario developed, but the last 45 minutes of this video are well worth watching with all of the news coverage. Thanks!
I recall watching this game and the demolition on tv in Detroit, a good night for the Tigers - got 2 wins and played only 9 innings. Sparky was really giving to the umpires, between games , after the demolition. No way were they going to play on what was left of that field.
My dad told me about disco demolition night the other night cause I watched a video on it and as fellow tigers fans him, my uncle, my aunt, my grandpa and grandmas reactions to this game was “wtf is going on lol” but hey two games won for the price of one, Sparky was the man!
@@seineic Lucky, how so? Look at the lineups for this game, the Tigers were much better than the White Sox, despite the idiot with Harry Carey that mispronounces every hitters name - Loser!
@@Slinkbomb I realized I made a mistake with the portion of the clip I mentioned. I was referring to how people today follow, instead of lead or stand out on their own. We are indeed a society that rewards stupidity and worships people who are jackasses.
Yes I remember that night on the Tiger TV network, they were only going to televise the second game of the DH, and when I tuned into it, Al and George were there pre-game talking about all the horrible things that were happening on the field but they never actually showed anything on camera. It drove me nuts. Now I actually get to see it. Bottom line is that no one was hurt. Just a bunch of stupid kids running around high. All of the sanctimonious talk about what an insult it was to baseball makes me laugh with the benefit of hindsight.
George and Al were my favorite Tigers broadcast duo of all time. As much as I loved Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey, George and Al will always top my list of Tigers announcers.
The guy singing the National Anthem is the quintessential definition of a guy that has no talent, and everyone in the world knows it but him. In his mind, that guy probably viewed himself as the second coming of Elvis, and he sure wasn’t shy about showing it.
haro82 YES! Would love to see ten cent beer night! From what I have heard, it was EVEN WILDER than Disco Demolition night. Crazy stuff! Good riddance, 1970s.🙂 have a nice day.🙂
Great night for baseball and fun for the whole family!!! Better times back in those days!!! When people had thick skin and could take a punch without crying!!
Chicago has always had a lively dance scene no matter what the narrative about disco has been. Disco did die then relatively speaking, even if the music was sampled or mimicked in other forms, lots of artists believe it did die around this time. .
God the news reports after this are fucking hysterical. Covering this like it's 9/11 while the "RIOT AT SOX PARK" graphic seems to have a picture of Wrigley. Good old channel 7.
Veeck- "This is Bill Veeck, please clear the park or we will have to call off the game and close the park." Harry Carey- "Can you hear me out there?" HOLY COW!!! What say we regain our seats, so we can play baseball again?! Piersall- "Jimmy Piersall back in the ballpark, and I am sure glad and I hope they don't let you see what is going on here at Comiskey Park! One of the saddest sights I have ever seen in a ballpark I have ever seen in a ballpark in my life! This garbage of demolishing a record, has turned into a fiasco!" Harry Carey upon the Chicago Police Riot Squad coming on the field- "Now the police are out on the field, boy oh boy!"
40 years ago tonight. Played baseball in alley of Maplewood before the game then ran inside to watch. First time I ever saw Steve Dahl didn't think he'd be so fat.
Thing about it, Disco Did Not "Suck", Disco Made the World More Fun, and Brought Us Hits from Donna Summers, The Beegees, too Many to List. It even had Full Orchestrated Music, And it's Actually being Used today across Many Genres.
I had a brother from another mother going into the Navy in 1979. He worked at an auto body shop. He brought home a bunch of old left over paint. 2 kegs of beer. Everyone that came to the party signed their name on a 1962 F100 truck. Most everyone also signed DISCO SUCKS . To everyone that helped us KILL disco THANK YOU. RAP NEXT ANYONE?
This is the only video on the subject that so far doesn’t have any comments accusing the anti disco people of being racist and homophobic . If you are thinking about posting one of those remember, we liked Judas Priest ( gay singer), Queen (gay singer), Elton John ( gay), David Bowie ( bisexual) , Jimi Hendrix ( Black), and all the blues guys that Rock and Roll descended from ( mostly black). It was disco that we hated.
Steamboat Will3. Not many knew about Rob Halford, but most knew about Elton John ( The brown dirt cowboys), Freddy Mercury, and David Bowie. Also most people knew that Hendrix was black.
Steamboat Will3. Unless you love guitar as I do, because disco has very little of it, or if you hate drum machines because you appreciate the fact that humans don’t have perfect time, so a human drummer is much preferred.
@@boataxe4605 ) You're incredibly stupid for disliking Disco but liking Rock when thery're equal, but you'll probably call me stupid in return for what I just said. In fact, that entire "anti-disco" movement was idiotic, no different from the moral guardians who hated Rock or Jazz. Denial is only proof of guilt, even if it wasn't just Homophobia there was certainly a degree of Racism involved and there's evidence for that, some of albums who ended up in the box were not Disco but jazz or other genres by black artists and a black white sox player was teased by one of the morons who jumped on to the field. And that's what I mean by "Rock & Disco" have the same origins". PS. #BLM
Jimmy was a whacko back in the fifties when he was a young baseball player. Even to the point that he was committed back then for various stunts that he went off the deep end. He later got into broadcasting in the late 60s and 70s and then Harry had him come join him in 1976 or 1977 I can't recall the exact year but it was when the 1977 White Sox were called the Southside Hit Men because they clubbed 192 homers and broke all kinds of records for the franchise at that time which traditionally had been a light hitting team most of the previous 76 years from 1901 to 1977.
Jimmy Piersall was an American treasure. He was an amazing broadcaster, had no qualms about criticizing anyone. He was very entertaining. One of a kind.
watch at the end of the video, Joel Daly's gonna have to eat his words, he said Steve will be washed up by 30, ha! Steve Dahl sure proved him wrong, the ladies were right, Steve became a success, in fact at 30, Steve had his own cable show on Friday nights. He's had a successful career in radio. Eat your heart out Joel Daly!
Dude, I can’t imagine the Sisyphean hell of being an O’s fan. I lived the first 20 years of my life as a downtrodden, pre-2004 Sox fan and even *I* can’t imagine the all-encompassing doom of loving the Orioles in 2021 😣
The Tigers traded Steve Kemp to White Sox for him. If I remember correctly Kemp won an arbitration case against the Tigers and the Tigers notorious cheapo GM Jim Campbell got rid of him.
In the later innings, likely those rowdy teenagers who did not use any of the spent fireworks in the 1976 Bicentennial, and because there were no prohibitions on bringing personal fireworks to Comiskey Park in 1979 (at that point, Comiskey Park had a prohibition on bottles or cans, and that's it), and it was about a week after the 4th of July in 1979 - and because of the exploding scoreboard used by the Sox - these are the reasons why you hear those rowdy teenagers set off the personal pyro explosions of M-80s, cherry bombs, and Thunder Bomb firecracker packs mid-game, during "demolition" itself, and the post-demolition melee that followed on the field.
The cherry bomb explosions had an explosive force as concussive or nearly that as the professional firework explosions from the exploding scoreboard! Especially when you heard those cherry bombs go "BOOM!!!!"
Those Insane Coho Lips fans were very impatient about seeing the biggest explosions between games, so they decided to blow some stuff up in the stands and onto the field anyway way before the actual disco demolition!!!!
Here's an irony for all of you. I noticed while watching this video that the other Chicago team (Chicago Cubs) were to play the Reds in Cincinnati. That game was rained out. As of most of you know, Sparky Anderson managed both the Tigers and the Reds. So this night both Chicago teams were set to play teams that Sparky managed, and both had at least one game canceled.
The Cubs' game was delayed for over 2 hours, but they got it in, and the Cubs rallied from a 7-0 deficit to win, 10-8. The game didn't end until nearly 2 a.m.
Here is a neat coincidence. While the Cubs were playing the Reds, and the Tigers were playing the White Sox on that day; the White Sox are playing the Tigers, and the Cubs are playing the Reds today, July 3, 2021. Also on both days, the Padres were and are playing the Phillies.
While Tony LaRussa wouldn't start managing the White Sox until about 20 games later in the 1979 season, it is still important to note that the White Sox are now being managed by Tony LaRussa again. Oh, Tony LaRussa just got ejected as I was typing this.
I might be wrong about Tony La Russa having been ejected, but he did come out of the dugout to argue with the umpires. It is possible that someone else in the White Sox dugout got ejected instead. I think I saw Tony La Russa walking to the mound to talk to his pitcher later in the game.
5:32 "We're gonna have a wild night tonight..." How right you were, Harry... you had NO idea. This wasn't the only crazy game in Chicago in 1979... Out on the Northside, they had a absolutely INSANE game on May 17 between the Cubs and Phillies. The score of that one? 23-22. Not even two months after that legendary Windy Day At Wrigley Field came this insanity. Funny thing is, back in the present day, Craig Fairchild just pulled a Reverse Angel Hernandez and handed the White Sox a win over the Tigers on a erroneous called third strike that was clearly Ball 4. Angel Hernandez would've gotten that call RIGHT (after all, he would go out of his way to screw over the White Sox as much as possible!), and with the next two guys coming up , the Tigers would've completed a very unlikely comeback after being down 5-0 and won 6-5 on a Riley Greene walk-off double. Also, note that the fans are saying disco isn't the only thing that sucks: This would be quite ironic from the viewpoint of 1984! (Four words: THIRTY-FIVE AND FIVE)
It's hard to describe what it was like growing up in the 70s and 80s to people that are much younger and weren't born until the 90s or later. I can just tell you it was a simpler life but it was a more enjoyable life. I really look back at the 70s and 80s and miss them greatly.
What was "simple and enjoyable" about this goddamn disaster?
me too.
@Mia Raimondi exactly..thank God Obama the racist isn't in office anymore..
Yeah. That energy crisis and inflation sure were enjoyable.
Jeremy K for 98 cents they went to a baseball game and had fun....stop it you fruit
I was at Disco Demolition Night with two of my brothers. We had seats in the right field upper deck. Didn't try to run onto the field. Years later after I moved to LA; I took my then girlfriend, now wife, to Dodger Stadium for a game featuring a free baseball giveaway to everyone in attendance. The date was Aug. 10, 1995, the night the Dodgers forfeited a home game vs. the Cardinals because of souvenir balls thrown onto the field. What was the possibility of being in attendance to two MLB forfeitures? I must be lucky.
Good thing that now that soveneer baseballs are given to fan when they leave.
At Cleveland Stadium the used to give out those miniature bat's with a Chief Wahoo Dec on it. Don't know how many little brothers, friends or strangers got a knock on the noggin. Or 10cent beer night. What could go wrong?
What prompted the move to LA?
And Dahl called Eddie Schwartz fat !!! Lol
According to Wikipedia, "There have been only five forfeits in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1954; the last forfeit was in 1995, and prior to that, 1979. Since 1914, there has only been one incident where a team deliberately made a decision to forfeit a game, by the 1977 Baltimore Orioles."
Jim Morrison playing 3rd base and batting 7th for the White Sox, after the game said " People are strange"
I was so disappointed. "NO ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO GET OUT ALIVE!!!"
And the fans don't you love them madly
Later with the Tigers.
Light My Fire
😆
2:14:05 Aurelio Lopez aka "Senor Smoke" 🔥
One of the great nicknames ever. Especially for a reliever 🚒
i was there--sean cassidy album got me in for 98 cents-----brought a six inch john travolta disco doll witj me --lit it on fire-----7th grade summer--great time...
As a Chicago South Side teenager back then, the late 1970s at Comiskey Park was absolute lawlessness
Walking along 35th street to the park was almost suicide
...back when watching a baseball game felt like watching a game. Harry sounded like a fan and not some corporate hack.
Sox we’re fools to get rid of LaRussa and Harry Carry.
Even getting rid of Ozzy was dumb.
Hawk was a good announcer but a good GM
You got to love the 70's technology. Especially the 3M chyron used for the on screen graphics.
I was at this game with some friends. We did not run onto the field. Too much respect for the game.
Ran into Tom Brookens around 2010 at an airport bar. We talked baseball for a while and this was one of the games he talked about.
I was at a Sox game in the mid-1970s at Comiskey Park. A home run was blasted and I heard the booms of the exploding scoreboard's fireworks and I never ever wanted to go to a Sox park like that ever again for the rest of 1970s. The booms of the fireworks were so scary for me. So...if the Sox's exploding scoreboard's fireworks was one reason for Disco Demolition, the scoreboard that existed since 1960 was probably the main prelude to this demolition.
Hope he also talked about the game in 1985 where he had to play catcher for several innings.
Wow! Chet Lemon wore No. 44. He lead the A.L. in doubles in 1979 with 44. This game was televised by Channel 44.
WSNS-TV Chicago(Now a Spanish TV Station)
Chicago's Obama was the 44th President.
@@tornadojones8825 I was just trying to make a cool observation. Have a good day.
O stop lol
Chetry Lemon a key part to the 84 World Series..👏🍻
The legendary Nancy Faust with a little “Louie, Louie” for Lou Whitaker at 12:55. Was way ahead of her time and set a precedent for ballpark organ music.
💯
She was the best
I watched this doubleheader on tv. As a kid, and loved disco music. But what a wild event lol.
I saw this on live TV. It was insane. The field was in pretty bad shape for the rest of the season, which caused rainouts on at least a couple of days when it wasn't raining all that much.
Yeah, I remember seeing the trashed field on sports highlights and Ray Rayner for the rest of the season. It wasn't fixed until 1980
Yes I was Young, and Couldn't Understand why People can Show Such Disdain for Someone's Music and Creativity.
Who made them Boss of Music?
I'm glad to return to TH-cam again!
Thank you for uploading of classic MLB games.
I'm looking forward to the baseball's good old days video you possess.
Thank you Jose!
This Game had SOOOO Many Sound Bites - A Classic !
1:35:00 mark - Did you hear the "crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack"? They were not cracks of the bats, but the way I heard the cracks were "crackling snaps", and I can confirm that the crackles were from the detonations of firecrackers from somewhere in the stands.
Many thanks to Classic MLB1 for this upload! It's a fascinating slice of pop culture history, especially for those of us who only knew about "Disco Demolition" night by reputation and from a distance.
We were going to go but didn't want to go to the south side that night. Always wished we had!!!
I wonder how the crowd would have reacted if Fine Young Cannibals "Good Thing", Simply Red's "If You Don't Know Me By Now" and Janet Jackson's "Miss You Much" were playing on the PA system. All #1 Billboard American pop hits from 1989. Better yet, traveling to 1999 Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca." and Jennifer Lopez's "If You Had My Love," If we could only travel to the future.
The funny thing was, the game against Detroit on July 12, 1979 was originally scheduled as a single game, but a rainout back on May 3 made it a doubleheader. The crowd of 47,795 was the largest Comiskey would see all season.
This is hilarious . The anthem alone is worth the watch
2:25:29 mark - those were not gunshots - THOSE WERE REAL FIRECRACKERS GOING OFF!!!!
As I heard the firecracker explosions - probably 9 or 10 pops - they made something like a "shave and a haircut - two bits" rhythm as they detonated.
I remember Jason Thompson knocking the Ball Outta DA PARK numerous times live, and Lance Parrish rocketing the Ball out the Park too. talk about Heavee Hittas! The had huge wrists and Popeye forearms, that’s how you do it! When Tigers won it all in 84’. It was a full blown RIOT! Overturned cop cars, Hundreds of Arsons!
Wow, that was bad...
The anthem singer was HORRIBLE.
probably the only time ever that Piersall was one of the more normal people inside of a ballpark...
Did you read Jimmy's shirt? It says OUTPATIENT lol
I love how during the game you can hear people screaming "disco sucks!"
David Steinle Long live disco!!
I got an idea for a special demolition night:HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS! HIP HOP SUCKS!
Disco is not related to Blues or Soul. The only thing Disco is related to is coke fueled one night limpness.
Mike Colbern had a great stance at the plate. The marbles hung low, and he could really dangle them over the plate. It was a formidable distraction to any opposing pitcher. The lefty and and the righty exuded attention, and added irony whenever the count was two balls.
At the time of this game, Ring My Bell was the #1 song in the country. Going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing Harry and Jimmy didn't race out to the record stores looking for the latest Anita Ward album.
It wouldn't surprise me if Harry did.
Wow! Didn't think I'd see Greg Gumbel in this video! Guy has barely aged!
Nothing against Greg Gumbel but in 1979 he was up against two larger than life personalities in Tim Wiegel & Johnny Morris a few years later Mark Giangreco
Piersall's Message at 2:41:11 is very foretelling
That was Gold ! Piersall was a prophet !
I don't get it lol
@@inkedvillan80 Donald Trump’s cult of personality (MAGA)
@@inkedvillan80Piersall was basically predicting what is happening in America today
@@JosephJohnson-kg5yrSo it comes down to saying Trump is a clown? what about the current " resident " of the White House?
I'd forgotten how funny Steve Dahl was. I went to Loopfest at the old dumpy Chicago Amphitheatre and saw a shit-ton of Chicago bands, saw Steve and Gary broadcasting live catty-corner from the Wrigley center field gates on 8/8/88.
When the Cubs were in San Diego in '84, Steve and Gary were broadcasting live from the Cubs' hotel lobby, Harry Caray and Steve Stone entered the hotel. Harry was all buddy-buddy with Steve and Gary, Stone wanted nothing to do with them.
The oldest player to play in MLB during the 2020 season was Albert Pujols, who was born six months after this game was played.
0:42: Piersall: "Between the fireworks, the music, the disco music, the burning of the, at the thing, you know you're lucky you don't go nuts here. You know, I've been there. I wanna tell you there's a big chance of going nuts. How can you even read the lineups when you can't even think - right now there's 30,000 kids and they've got dirty signs all over this park. I wanna tell ya, unbelievable."
Kind of foreshadowing for the night.
I recognized the pyrotechnic setup for the blow-up. 13-14 mortar tubes, attached by permacord and fuses, not electrically fired. A hand-firer lit the fuse to set off the pyro salutes and the dynamite. Each mortar probably contained up to 600 grams of salute powder (pyrotechnic composition), and the diameter is likely 7 inches in each mortar tube. The explosions were ground salutes strong enough in concussion to shake the ground (130 decibels probably). After that, a second strand of permacord led to the main target - the big box containing the disco records, and there were about 1 or 2 sticks of dynamite rigged inside the box attached to the permacord. When the line of fire hit the permacord under the box, it ignited the dynamite inside or under the box - AND THAT IS HOW THE DISCO RECORDS WENT UP EXPLOSIVELY INTO THE SKY AND FELL AS SHARDS AS IT LANDED BACK INTO THE OUTFIELD GRASS.
Thanks for the intel
Charles Smith Damn, next terrorist attack we know who to blame..
@@russellguercio5357 I studied a lot about fireworks on the Internet recently - everything on how stuff is fired to how professional displays are done. In 1979, I did not even know too much about pyrotechnics until I heard the explosions every 4th of July, but I did not know how they work or why some people celebrate with them.
This all happened exactly 40 years ago to this day...
A sign of things to come disco radio stations across the country changed their formats starting New Years Day 1980
Gary Meier leading the "Disco Sucks" chant with Nancy Faust on the organ is hilarious
Well, I was trying to delve for years into Dahl's mentioning of "Snatnos" before - and after - the record blow-up. Maybe in my intuition was that Snatnos was the DJ, a probable pro-rock-and-roller (I do not know if he worked on the WLUP station) somewhere in the PA booth in the upper deck, who was going to spin on the PA system of the ballpark "Don't Ya Think I'm Disco" on Dahl's command, but I am guessing why Snatnos was not allowed to do it live at the ballpark - probably for copyright reasons Snatnos was not allowed to play that parody (even though it would be allowed under Section 107 of the copyright law), but somehow, this copyright prohibition was circumvented somehow without any knowledge to me - and somehow, fortunately, television viewers did get their say and got the chance to hear the "Don't Ya" song after all. Pretty sad that all of those pro-rock-and-rollers at the ballpark were unable to hear the DJed version but what saved them was when Nancy Faust - an extremely keen "human jukebox on the baseball organ" - saved face for the rock-and-roll fans, doing almost the exact version of the original Rod Stewart song........
Glad this exists,its entertaining!!!
Enrico Pallazzo's sonny w/The National Anthem, Harry & Jimmy, Bill Veeck, Steve Dahl & Disco Demolition. 2 days before my birthday in the neighborhood. Good times!
What's funny is that most of the fans that went on the field are now senior citizens. I wonder what they think about this today.
I'm 72 and was 27 at the time. Memories...lol
The fun starts @2:29:35!
On New Years Day 1980 many stations around the country dropped disco like a 🔥 hot potato 🥔 so much for the 70s
Now, people LOVE disco. Funny the circle of life.
Even more ironic. The year that this happened, the World Series was won by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and their theme song was "We Are Family," a DISCO song.
@@SNARC15 I'd call it more funk or soul but, point taken.
No they don't.
@aboxofbroken8tracks983 Disco bruh
@@user-iq3qm4mc3uyes they do
Im pretty sure Harry Caray was drunk the entire time.
Always lol
When was the slurring druken ogre NOT DRUNK. A Chicago legend? Sure for drunks
Harry had a provision in his broadcasting contract that stated a case of Falstaff was to be on ice in the booth for each home game.
The White Sox of the time would have driven a Baptist to drink
He's drunk every game
Awesome vid. I was a huge Ron LeFlore fan, as he was from the East Side of Detroit like I was. He was one of the great base stealers of his time. Unfortunately, drugs took him down during the height of his career.
To those that read this comment.i find this very disspointing. I am a Orioles fan but I also was a fan of Ron leflore wish for his succes..in baseball.and to eternal overcome these or those demonic call.of the streat
When they played the last game at Tiger Stadium on September 27, 1999...old time players came for the after game festivities. Ron LeFlore came. Police hauled him off the field, serving an arrest warrant for child support. It was sad. I was a big fan of his. What a great story his MLB opportunity was!
They hated disco, they saw disco blow up, and then they rioted. That is plain and simple on how Disco Demolition night was so notorious in Chicago.
Oh it was beyond Chicago. Trust me.
1:20:10 Lorn Brown: "This has to be one of the better radio station promotions I've ever seen."
Late 70s ruled. That intro was lit, better than today's. The full footage of the riot was uploaded, yall gotta check it out
Those Chicago uniforms!! Not even tucked in. Like beer league softball. Lol ..bring em back as alternates in 2022. Hilarious.
1976 they've added matching shorts
@@DanHolmes-o9bOnly 2 be worn for2 games, then gone for good
Let's see....98¢ tickets. Ten cent beers. Explosions. What could go wrong? LOL.
Those miniature bat's they used to give to the first 15 000 kids. What could possibly go wrong?
Thanks for posting this. It's an important part of history for baseball and popular music.
My memory was bad enough, but 41 years ago on Sunday, that infamous baseball game in Chicago was followed by all those records breaking on the playing field! And Steve Dahl broke a record in front of Tom Snyder--and someone known as meatloaf! Mister Dahl devastated discography on TV! (Now that was breaking news in 1979!)
Seeing the game itself was cool as the whole scenario developed, but the last 45 minutes of this video are well worth watching with all of the news coverage. Thanks!
They should have showed the action like they do today
I recall watching this game and the demolition on tv in Detroit, a good night for the Tigers - got 2 wins and played only 9 innings. Sparky was really giving to the umpires, between games , after the demolition. No way were they going to play on what was left of that field.
My dad told me about disco demolition night the other night cause I watched a video on it and as fellow tigers fans him, my uncle, my aunt, my grandpa and grandmas reactions to this game was “wtf is going on lol” but hey two games won for the price of one, Sparky was the man!
You got lucky with this and then the malice at the palace.
@@seineic Lucky, how so? Look at the lineups for this game, the Tigers were much better than the White Sox, despite the idiot with Harry Carey that mispronounces every hitters name - Loser!
@@jimcoleman598 that idiot was Jimmy Piersall, clown. The fact that you don't know who he is makes me doubt you ever really watched baseball.
I read that WDIV (the Tigers' station) joined this game in progress an hour after it started. Was that true?
2:47:27 "Riot at Sox Park" superimposed over a shot of Wrigley. Lovely.
Al Kaline said during this telecast "i can't believe that this could ever happen in America" and i agree with him to this day!
I wonder how many of these idiots that storm the field at this event grew up to participate in Jan 6
My roomate in college was at this event. He said it was total chaos, but at times fun.
25,000 outside trying to get in....
Harry was cracking me up this whole game. The foul ball at 18:50 and what he said about the fan had me rolling!
Double headers always meant double drinks for Harry lol and he was funny
I like the fact the fan was wearing a Grateful Dead shirt.
Great to see this uploaded again. From 2:41:15 to 2:41:24 sums up all up.
LMAO I was just going to reference that part of the clip!.... "Happy people out there but not they way of today!"
@@Slinkbomb I realized I made a mistake with the portion of the clip I mentioned. I was referring to how people today follow, instead of lead or stand out on their own. We are indeed a society that rewards stupidity and worships people who are jackasses.
Serious would love to see the Tigers broadcast of this. I remember George Kell and Al Kaline being so upset over the events between innings...
Yes I remember that night on the Tiger TV network, they were only going to televise the second game of the DH, and when I tuned into it, Al and George were there pre-game talking about all the horrible things that were happening on the field but they never actually showed anything on camera. It drove me nuts. Now I actually get to see it. Bottom line is that no one was hurt. Just a bunch of stupid kids running around high. All of the sanctimonious talk about what an insult it was to baseball makes me laugh with the benefit of hindsight.
George and Al were my favorite Tigers broadcast duo of all time. As much as I loved Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey, George and Al will always top my list of Tigers announcers.
Yeah, but did they ever duke it out like the current broadcast team?
Kell cheering on the police..."The boys in blue!!"
The guy singing the National Anthem is the quintessential definition of a guy that has no talent, and everyone in the world knows it but him. In his mind, that guy probably viewed himself as the second coming of Elvis, and he sure wasn’t shy about showing it.
Did you hear the fan that said F**IT ?
Piersall saying smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette 😂
Classic! Great upload. Any chance you've got 10 cent beer night in Cleveland?
haro82 YES! Would love to see ten cent beer night! From what I have heard, it was EVEN WILDER than Disco Demolition night. Crazy stuff! Good riddance, 1970s.🙂 have a nice day.🙂
They need to do another demolition nite along with nickel beer 🍻🤠👍
I love Disco, and I don't drink alcohol.
@@rogerlambert9316 🕺🕺🕺
Jimmy couldn’t even read the batting orders without f-ing up.
Dahl and Meatloaf later toured the Midwest as “2 Tons of Fun.”
Remember watching this on the tiger network.was happy the tigers got a gift win in the second game!
Too bad there was a lack of security. I guess that there were more fans there than they expected.
This wasn't just a baseball game or a radio promotion gone wrong. It's a historical document in Chicago sports history.
Great night for baseball and fun for the whole family!!! Better times back in those days!!! When people had thick skin and could take a punch without crying!!
Steve Dahl looks like Mark David Chapman.
He was undercover because John Lennon was advertised to be there that night.
@@RomanticRebel267 bad try at humor
this is fantastic.....please leave IN the commercials...we can fast fw if we don't want to watch them : )
If you want to watch commercials, watch commercials. Don't force others too.
th-cam.com/video/V7UoCcf-DuM/w-d-xo.html
Enjoyed. Thank you
Harry quote - When your 36 Its Time to Retire - LMAO !
Love the White Sox softball uniforms.
No these are their softball uniforms: th-cam.com/video/DOeMdSC6boA/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUYd2hpdGUgc294IHNob3J0cyB1bmlmb3Jt
phew....Nearly 40 years ago!....I've got my 1976-1981 SOX cap and my "Disco Demolition" T-shirt ready to go in 66 days!
The irony is that with House music, Chicago was the place where disco didn't die.
Chicago has always had a lively dance scene no matter what the narrative about disco has been. Disco did die then relatively speaking, even if the music was sampled or mimicked in other forms, lots of artists believe it did die around this time.
.
@@4149stonepony To be replaced by the 15-minute-long Urban Cowboy fad.
1:17 That's a pretty good line-up. I recognize five names.
God the news reports after this are fucking hysterical. Covering this like it's 9/11 while the "RIOT AT SOX PARK" graphic seems to have a picture of Wrigley. Good old channel 7.
One of the craziest games I've ever seen. History will be made either its good or bad.
Veeck- "This is Bill Veeck, please clear the park or we will have to call off the game and close the park."
Harry Carey- "Can you hear me out there?" HOLY COW!!! What say we regain our seats, so we can play baseball again?!
Piersall- "Jimmy Piersall back in the ballpark, and I am sure glad and I hope they don't let you see what is going on here at Comiskey Park! One of the saddest sights I have ever seen in a ballpark I have ever seen in a ballpark in my life! This garbage of demolishing a record, has turned into a fiasco!"
Harry Carey upon the Chicago Police Riot Squad coming on the field- "Now the police are out on the field, boy oh boy!"
jim Morrison back from the dead for the white sox
Literally mr. Mojo RISIN
Dontcha love him madly? (LOL)
These bad puns light your fire?
He broke on through to the other side
Hahaha
40 years ago tonight. Played baseball in alley of Maplewood before the game then ran inside to watch. First time I ever saw Steve Dahl didn't think he'd be so fat.
How can I find your private page with the games? Thanks for all!
48:10 Harry Carry was at bit loser back there in '79. A Masters and Johnson reference?
27:54 Hey, I wanted to hear that commercial about Interlake!
Thing about it, Disco Did Not "Suck", Disco Made the World More Fun, and Brought Us Hits from Donna Summers, The Beegees, too Many to List. It even had Full Orchestrated Music,
And it's Actually being Used today across Many Genres.
"Miss us yet?" say the 1979 Cubs.
I had a brother from another mother going into the Navy in 1979. He worked at an auto body shop. He brought home a bunch of old left over paint. 2 kegs of beer. Everyone that came to the party signed their name on a 1962 F100 truck. Most everyone also signed DISCO SUCKS . To everyone that helped us KILL disco THANK YOU. RAP NEXT ANYONE?
Basically everything the last 20 years.
This is the only video on the subject that so far doesn’t have any comments accusing the anti disco people of being racist and homophobic . If you are thinking about posting one of those remember, we liked Judas Priest ( gay singer), Queen (gay singer), Elton John ( gay), David Bowie ( bisexual) , Jimi Hendrix ( Black), and all the blues guys that Rock and Roll descended from ( mostly black). It was disco that we hated.
But who knew they were back then?
Steamboat Will3. Not many knew about Rob Halford, but most knew about Elton John ( The brown dirt cowboys), Freddy Mercury, and David Bowie. Also most people knew that Hendrix was black.
Rock and Disco are siblings with the same origins, hating one is hating the other.
Steamboat Will3. Unless you love guitar as I do, because disco has very little of it, or if you hate drum machines because you appreciate the fact that humans don’t have perfect time, so a human drummer is much preferred.
@@boataxe4605 )
You're incredibly stupid for disliking Disco but liking Rock when thery're equal, but you'll probably call me stupid in return for what I just said.
In fact, that entire "anti-disco" movement was idiotic, no different from the moral guardians who hated Rock or Jazz.
Denial is only proof of guilt, even if it wasn't just Homophobia there was certainly a degree of Racism involved and there's evidence for that, some of albums who ended up in the box were not Disco but jazz or other genres by black artists and a black white sox player was teased by one of the morons who jumped on to the field.
And that's what I mean by "Rock & Disco" have the same origins".
PS. #BLM
Now that weed is legal in IL they can do this all over again for Rap Demolition!
What are they going to blow up, Spotify servers?
How in the world did Jimmy Piersall ever get a broadcasting job?
Jimmy was a whacko back in the fifties when he was a young baseball player. Even to the point that he was committed back then for various stunts that he went off the deep end. He later got into broadcasting in the late 60s and 70s and then Harry had him come join him in 1976 or 1977 I can't recall the exact year but it was when the 1977 White Sox were called the Southside Hit Men because they clubbed 192 homers and broke all kinds of records for the franchise at that time which traditionally had been a light hitting team most of the previous 76 years from 1901 to 1977.
he is no worse than say John Sterling.....or the Sox crew now...….now they have 4 bad announcers
Jimmy Piersall was an American treasure. He was an amazing broadcaster, had no qualms about criticizing anyone. He was very entertaining. One of a kind.
watch at the end of the video, Joel Daly's gonna have to eat his words, he said Steve will be washed up by 30, ha! Steve Dahl sure proved him wrong, the ladies were right, Steve became a success, in fact at 30, Steve had his own cable show on Friday nights. He's had a successful career in radio. Eat your heart out Joel Daly!
He played.
The Chicago White Sox should have burned those horrific softball uniforms while they were at it.
I think that is insulting to softball. :) I think that they were even worse than softball unis
Chris Sale likes the way you think
In a pile of marijuana? Cause that's what that park smelled of after it was cleared. Comiskey Park...high as a kite and stoned to fuck. XD
FUCK ALL OF YOU HATERS. Those White Sox uniforms were dope. SWEET!
Those were bad.
What was with those 19th century style uniforms the Sox wore back then?
Makes me glad I'm an Orioles fan.
Dude, I can’t imagine the Sisyphean hell of being an O’s fan. I lived the first 20 years of my life as a downtrodden, pre-2004 Sox fan and even *I* can’t imagine the all-encompassing doom of loving the Orioles in 2021 😣
@@manifestgtr The Orioles did something that will never happen again, they lost their first 21 games of 1988
@ 1:51, did he mention Chet Lemon's name? How long did he play for the White Sox before the Tigers called him up?
The Tigers traded Steve Kemp to White Sox for him. If I remember correctly Kemp won an arbitration case against the Tigers and the Tigers notorious cheapo GM Jim Campbell got rid of him.
In the later innings, likely those rowdy teenagers who did not use any of the spent fireworks in the 1976 Bicentennial, and because there were no prohibitions on bringing personal fireworks to Comiskey Park in 1979 (at that point, Comiskey Park had a prohibition on bottles or cans, and that's it), and it was about a week after the 4th of July in 1979 - and because of the exploding scoreboard used by the Sox - these are the reasons why you hear those rowdy teenagers set off the personal pyro explosions of M-80s, cherry bombs, and Thunder Bomb firecracker packs mid-game, during "demolition" itself, and the post-demolition melee that followed on the field.
The cherry bomb explosions had an explosive force as concussive or nearly that as the professional firework explosions from the exploding scoreboard! Especially when you heard those cherry bombs go "BOOM!!!!"
Those Insane Coho Lips fans were very impatient about seeing the biggest explosions between games, so they decided to blow some stuff up in the stands and onto the field anyway way before the actual disco demolition!!!!
Thanks Goddess and God for metal detectors.
Thank Goddess and God for metal detectors.
Here's an irony for all of you. I noticed while watching this video that the other Chicago team (Chicago Cubs) were to play the Reds in Cincinnati. That game was rained out. As of most of you know, Sparky Anderson managed both the Tigers and the Reds. So this night both Chicago teams were set to play teams that Sparky managed, and both had at least one game canceled.
The Cubs' game was delayed for over 2 hours, but they got it in, and the Cubs rallied from a 7-0 deficit to win, 10-8. The game didn't end until nearly 2 a.m.
Even funnier, I've heard that before Sparky got the Tigers job, he had been having discussions with the Cubs about becoming their manager in 1980.
Here is a neat coincidence. While the Cubs were playing the Reds, and the Tigers were playing the White Sox on that day; the White Sox are playing the Tigers, and the Cubs are playing the Reds today, July 3, 2021. Also on both days, the Padres were and are playing the Phillies.
While Tony LaRussa wouldn't start managing the White Sox until about 20 games later in the 1979 season, it is still important to note that the White Sox are now being managed by Tony LaRussa again. Oh, Tony LaRussa just got ejected as I was typing this.
I might be wrong about Tony La Russa having been ejected, but he did come out of the dugout to argue with the umpires. It is possible that someone else in the White Sox dugout got ejected instead. I think I saw Tony La Russa walking to the mound to talk to his pitcher later in the game.
2:27:48 "These things happen" ... WHEN HAS THIS HAPPENED?
5:32 "We're gonna have a wild night tonight..."
How right you were, Harry... you had NO idea.
This wasn't the only crazy game in Chicago in 1979... Out on the Northside, they had a absolutely INSANE game on May 17 between the Cubs and Phillies.
The score of that one?
23-22.
Not even two months after that legendary Windy Day At Wrigley Field came this insanity.
Funny thing is, back in the present day, Craig Fairchild just pulled a Reverse Angel Hernandez and handed the White Sox a win over the Tigers on a erroneous called third strike that was clearly Ball 4. Angel Hernandez would've gotten that call RIGHT (after all, he would go out of his way to screw over the White Sox as much as possible!), and with the next two guys coming up , the Tigers would've completed a very unlikely comeback after being down 5-0 and won 6-5 on a Riley Greene walk-off double.
Also, note that the fans are saying disco isn't the only thing that sucks: This would be quite ironic from the viewpoint of 1984! (Four words: THIRTY-FIVE AND FIVE)
5:03 The Interlake Corp is still functioning.
Sparky has 5 years to win - 1979 + 5 = 1984 - Tigers WIN WS !
3:23:58 is the partial opening to the “NBC Late Night Movie”.
Harry Caray (PBP) & Jimmy Piersall (C) 1-3/7-9
Lorn Brown (PBP) 4-6
What channel was this news report from? In the second half starting at 2:29:34
This is a great documentation of the calamity at Old Comisky.
@@brianwilliams5662 it's not worth spelling correctly. That ball park was a turd. That Sox in general were a glorified minor league team
@@jamesgentry13 Says some dolt lol
@@jamesgentry13 It was a dump in it's last seasons up to 1990
@@brianwilliams5662 if you need to run minor league style promotions to get people to watch your shitty team then your franchise is shit