Members of the Texas Rangers take down a drunken fan who ran onto the field during a game against the Cleveland Indians on June 4, 1974 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Members of the Texas Rangers take down a drunken fan who ran onto the field during a game against the Cleveland Indians on June 4, 1974 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Paul Tepley Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images

The Texas Rangers have been involved in some raucous riots and fights. There’s that insanely cool Nolan Ryan time beat the hell out of Robin Ventura and that time Rougned Odor absolutely clocked Jose Bautista. There’s the riot that started in 1971 when the Washington Senators announced they’d move to Arlington to become the Rangers, which ended in a forfeit. 

And then there’s Ten Cent Beer Night, which may be one of the most insane ways a team has ever won a game. On June 4, 1974, the Texas Rangers were confronted by a horde of angry fans, piss-drunk from insanely cheap beer, and had to fend them off with anything they could find.

In 1974, the Cleveland Indians (they were still called that back then) hosted Ten Cent Beer Night, a promotional night that’s exactly what it sounded like. For context, the Indians of the mid-’70s were not very good. They had lost 102 games in 1971 and hadn’t posted a winning record since 1968. In 1973, they ranked dead last in Major League Baseball in attendance. 

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So, eager to get butts in seats at Cleveland Stadium, the Indians announced that on June 4, beer at their game against the Texas Rangers would be 10 cents for a cup, down from the normal price of 65 cents (which is $4.65 in 2026 money). The Indians had done this a few years before, when in 1971 they hosted Nickel Beer Night without problems. But this time there would be; just a week before, on May 29, the Indians had visited the Rangers at Arlington Stadium in Texas and gotten into a brawl. Rangers fans threw food and beer at the Indians players.

Indians fans did not take too kindly to this. It didn’t help that, after the May 29 brawl, a Cleveland newspaper reporter asked Rangers manager Billy Martin if he was worried that they might face retaliation on their upcoming road trip to Ohio.

“Naw, they won’t have enough fans there to worry about,” Martin responded. 

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 Fans of the Clevleand Indians stand on top of the Cleveland Indians dugout during a game against the Texas Rangers on June 4, 1974 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. 

 Fans of the Clevleand Indians stand on top of the Cleveland Indians dugout during a game against the Texas Rangers on June 4, 1974 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Paul Tepley Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images

Flashing, firecrackers and fights 

 Texas players run toward the locker room from the dugout as playing field is in utter chaos when fans erupted from stands in the rightfield in the 9th inning of the game with Cleveland. 

 Texas players run toward the locker room from the dugout as playing field is in utter chaos when fans erupted from stands in the rightfield in the 9th inning of the game with Cleveland. 

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More than 25,000 people, twice the average game attendance that season, pulled up to Cleveland Stadium for Ten Cent Beer night, ready to get drunk and yell at the Rangers. These people got drunk. Fans were allowed to buy up to six cups of beer per visit to the concession stand. Nothing was stopping a rowdy fan from buying six beers, giving them to a friend or child, and buying more. Other fans had firecrackers and set them off throughout the game. Others openly smoked weed in the stands. You know it smelled crazy in there.

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The Rangers took an early lead after designated hitter Tom Grieve hit a home run, and each time a Ranger stepped into the batter’s box, they received a hearty dose of boos from the booze-filled crowd. As the game went on, the crowd got more and more agitated. At one point, Indians batter Leron Lee hit a line drive that smacked Rangers pitcher Fergie Jenkins in the stomach. Fans clapped and chanted “hit him again, harder!” as Jenkins doubled over in agony. 

Then there were the exhibitionists, three of them to be exact. One woman jumped over the first base wall, flashed the crowd and ran at the umpire for a kiss, which she did not receive. 

 A streaker manages to escape the arm of the law during the Cleveland-Texas game. The game was stopped in the 9th inning when fans jumped onto the field and charged Rangers' right fielder Jeff Burroughs. Game was forfeited to Texas. 

 A streaker manages to escape the arm of the law during the Cleveland-Texas game. The game was stopped in the 9th inning when fans jumped onto the field and charged Rangers’ right fielder Jeff Burroughs. Game was forfeited to Texas. 

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Truckloads of beer, a stolen hat and pure pandemonium

The Indians couldn’t get beer to the stands fast enough, so an enterprising team employee had an idea: they positioned the Stroh’s beer trucks just outside the outfield fences and let fans line up to get beer straight out of the truck’s spigot. What could go wrong? The already plastered fans reached a state of pure, baseball-induced madness.

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Understandably, families with young children decided that this was not a great way to spend their Tuesday evening and began streaming for the exits in the seventh inning. In the ninth, with the game tied at 5, a 19-year-old fan named Terry Yerkic jumped onto the field to try to steal a hat from Texas Rangers outfielder Jeff Burroughs. Clearly having had enough of all of this, Burroughs kicked Yerkick.

All hell broke loose. Martin, the manager, and the rest of the Rangers rushed out of the dugout to see if Burroughs was okay. The insanely wasted Indians crowd took this as a sign to fight and poured out of the stands to attack the Rangers. About 200 fans rushed the field, armed with chains, knives and pieces of stadium equipment they had unbolted from the ground, and surrounded the 25 Rangers players. It seemed that the Rangers, which had moved to Arlington just two years prior, might meet a premature end.

Indians manager Ken Aspromonte, who probably did not like the Rangers but surely didn’t want to see them get slaughtered, ordered his team to grab their bats, run out there, and help the Rangers. An all-out riot began.  

The Texas dugout empties onto the field armed with bats as they run to aid when fans erupted from the stands and charged Jeff Burroughs in the 9th inning in the game with Cleveland. Game was forfeited to Texas. 

The Texas dugout empties onto the field armed with bats as they run to aid when fans erupted from the stands and charged Jeff Burroughs in the 9th inning in the game with Cleveland. Game was forfeited to Texas. 

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“F–king animals” and the game is forfeited

At this point, umpire Nestor Chylak finally ended the game and called it a forfeit in favor of the Rangers, automatically giving them a win. Chylak later called the fans “f–king animals” and “uncontrolled beasts.” 

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“I saw two guys with knives, and I got hit with a chair,” Chylak later said. 

Legendary Indians broadcasters Herb Score and Joe Tait gave us a play-by-play as Indians Tom Hilgendorf was hit in the head, WWE-style, by a steel chair, and Indians broadcaster Joe Tait called the affair “an absolute tragedy” and “disgusting.” A journalist who attempted to interview fans was punched in the face.

Ball players from Cleveland and Texas mix it up with fans during the 9th inning of their game which had to be halted. Texas won the game by forfeit. The fans jumped onto the field and charged Rangers' outfielder Jeff Burroughs. 

Ball players from Cleveland and Texas mix it up with fans during the 9th inning of their game which had to be halted. Texas won the game by forfeit. The fans jumped onto the field and charged Rangers’ outfielder Jeff Burroughs. 

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Eventually, the Rangers and Indians players barricaded themselves in their clubhouses as the fans tried to break in. Some fans stole the bases at Cleveland Stadium, which haven’t been recovered to this day. Cleveland Police arrived and arrested nine people as the Indians players escorted the Rangers onto the bus.   

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The Indians had planned three more Ten Cent Beer Nights that season. The team cancelled them, but that wasn’t enough; for reasons that should be clear, the American League President Lee McPhail cancelled all of the team’s upcoming promotions. And if you’ve ever wondered why baseball teams never have “Dollar Beer Night,” now you know why.Â