49: Cleveland’s Chaotic 10-Cent Beer Night

An Old Timey Podcast

True Crime, History, Comedy

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2025

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the summer of 1974, the Cleveland Indians had a big problem. Hardly anyone showed up for their games. It was embarrassing! So, the team’s management brainstormed ways to get butts in seats. Ultimately, they opted to host a handful of 10-cent beer nights. They hoped that the cheap beer would draw people to the stadium.

The good news? The plan worked! The bad news? It was pandemonium!

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“Fifty years later, the chaos of Cleveland’s 10-cent beer night still shocks,” by Zack Meisel for The New York Times
“10 cent beer night: An oral history of Cleveland baseball’s most infamous night,” by Vince Guerrieri for Cleveland Magazine
“The night beer and violence bubbled over in Cleveland,” by Paul Jackson for espn.com
“10-Cent Beer Night: A look back,” video by Sports & Extras Network
“Ten Cent Beer Night Was A Total Disaster,” YouTube video by Weird History

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hear ye, hear ye. You are listening to an old-timey podcast. I'm Kristen Caruso.
0:08.2	And I'm Norman Caruso. And on this episode, I'll be talking about 10-cent beer night.
0:15.1	Oh, I know this story.
0:17.4	Do you really? I hate that you know this story.
0:19.3	My dad told me about this long time ago.
0:22.8	He said it was a legendary night in Major League Baseball. Did your dad attend this event?
0:29.8	No, he did not. Well, damn, that kind of just cut that story off at the knees. You know what, Norm, I barely recognize you right now because you have new glasses.
0:40.6	And if I had it my way, people who wear glasses would never be allowed to get new glasses
0:45.5	because for the first week that they have the new glasses, I always flip out.
0:50.1	Do you think I look better or worse?
0:52.0	No, I love the new glasses.
0:53.5	I mean, you know, I was there.
0:54.8	I helped you pick them out.
0:55.8	I'm just saying I'm like a dog when somebody has a hat on.
1:00.1	So you start barking.
1:01.6	I'm like, nah!
1:02.6	Yeah, he started barking at me when I put him on.
1:04.8	That's right.
1:05.2	That's right.
1:06.0	Yeah.
1:06.5	I'm still getting used to him, too. I told you that I feel like I look like Mark David Chapman, the guy that killed John Lennon.
1:13.9	Yeah, I had to...
	...

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