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Our next story comes to us from a man who is simply known as the History Guy. His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people of all ages on YouTube. The History Guy is also heard here at Our American Stories. The June 4th, 1974 night game between the Texas Rangers and the Cleveland Indians was one for the record books.

Trouble was a brewing.

The bleachers were loaded, and there was a distinct buzz in the air.

Here's the history guy with that story of the 10-cent beer night riot.

1974 was a depressing news year in the United States. President Richard Nixon was embroiled

in the Watergate scandal, which would eventually force him to resign in November. The first

U.S. President did do so. The United States economy was in a deep recession, the result of double-digit

inflation in the ongoing energy crisis. Patricia Hearst, the granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped

in February, and by April had claimed that she had joined her captor's cause, leading to

nightly news stories.

And on June 4th, in the event that perhaps best defined the trying times of the day, beer was too cheap in Cleveland,

Ohio. It is history that deserves to be remembered.

It was Tuesday, June 4th, and the Texas Rangers were playing a night game at Cleveland Stadium,

the first of a three-game series. When configured for baseball, the stadium seated 74,400 fans, making it the largest in

professional baseball in 1974.

But Cleveland was a struggling city, noted for its river pollution that Cayoga River

through the city was famous for literally catching fire.

When such fire in 1969 had caught the attention

of the nation via Time magazine prompting the creation of the Environmental Protection

Agency. The Cleveland area had been a flashpoint for anti-Vietnam War sentiment

...