Category: June

June 20: Lesson in Attendance

JUNE 20, 1948 | CLEVELAND, OHIO – Guess which team set the regular season attendance record on this date in 1948 (the dateline kind of gives it away)? It wasn’t the New York Yankees or some other storied franchise. It was the Cleveland Indians.

The Indians drew 82,781 fans to Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium on this date in 1948 to watch the Indians sweep a doubleheader from the Philadelphia A’s. Cleveland drew exceptionally well that entire year, and for good reason, they won the American League Pennant and beat the Boston Braves in the World Series.

The record for a game that mattered was set during the 1959 World Series when the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox drew 92,720 to the Los Angeles Coliseum, better suited for football, for game 5. The Coliseum was used by the Dodgers while waiting for Dodger Stadium to be built.

Speaking of attendance, it has been generally uphill since the late 1800’s with downturns for major catastrophes such as World Wars and The Great Depression. Attendance usually picks up after those events resolve.

World War I
Year average
1916 5,215 – War goes on but United States not involved.
1917 4,186 – United States enters World War I
1918 3,032 – War still going during the season, ends in November.
1919 5,843 – 1st season after the Armistice

The Great Depression
1929 7,802 – Stock Market crash October
1930 8,211 – Attendance record set. Economic downturn not fully felt yet
1931 6,850 – Depression sets in
1932 5,657 – Depression continues
1933 4,967 – Depression at its worst
1934 5,694 – Some recovery seen
1935 5,982 – More modest recovery
1936 6,529 – More modest recovery
1937 7,216 – Recession sets in, lasts through most of ‘38

World War II
1941 7,789 – Pearl Harbor attacked in December
1942 6,988 – War continues
1943 6,031 – War continues
1944 7,063 – War continues, but attendance increases from previous year
1945 8,814 – Japan surrenders in August, war ends
1946 14,914 – Attendance boom in 1st full season after war ends

The Great Recession – 2007 to 2013

See: http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/2000-2009-mlb-attendance/

2007 – 32,785 Beginning of Great Recession

2008 – 32,694

2009 – 30,206

JUNE 22 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – Veeck joins the club

JUNE 22, 1946 | CLEVELAND, OHIO – Groucho Marx once said, “I would not join a club that would have someone like me for a member.” Non-conformist Bill Veeck probably shared that attitude. But on this date in 1946 Veeck (as in wreck) joins the club he would often be at odds with – the Major League Baseball owners.

Veeck was a showman who would stop at practically nothing to get fans in the stands.

Veeck put together a group, which included entertainer Bob Hope, that inked a deal for the Cleveland Indians on June 22, 1946. This was the start of a career as a major league club owner. He later ran the St. Louis Browns (today’s Baltimore Orioles) and Chicago White Sox (twice) franchises.

Veeck was a showman who would stop at practically nothing to get fans in the stands. He employed a midget who had one at bat for the Browns and walked; the pitcher had a tough time finding 3-foot/7-inch Eddie Gaedel‘s strike zone. The commissioner’s office didn’t like the idea and immediately barred Gaedel from baseball, but not before his one at bat.

There were a number of Veeck innovations fellow owners originally balked at that have since become commonplace; player names on uniforms, fireworks displays, food other than peanuts and Cracker Jacks available at the ball park.

He also understood the importance of winning. Only three teams other than the New York Yankees won the American League pennant from 1947 to 1959, two of them were Veeck’s – the ‘48 Indians and ‘59 White Sox. Each team set attendance records under Veeck’s leadership as well. Veeck wouldn’t want to join a club that would have someone like him for a member, but did just that on this date in baseball history.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES: 
Richard Dugan, United Press (UP), June 23, 1946, Cleveland, Ohio
Post season results

June 9 in baseball history – Sunday Night Lights

JUNE 9, 1963 | HOUSTON, TEXAS – The first major league baseball game played on a Sunday night was played on this date in 1963. Sunday night games were banned at the time, but the Houston Colt .45s (today’s Astros) asked for, and were granted, an exception because of the oppressive Texas heat. Sunday night lights soon became the norm.

"We would have been lucky to have drawn 4,000 fans if the game had been played in the afternoon."

This was before the Astrodome was built, in fact the sweltering heat was a primary reason for building it. At the time the Colt .45s were playing in open air Colt Stadium, which had virtually no shade for the fans.

The Houston ball club was ecstatic about the results of that first Sunday night game. The Colt .45s beat the San Francisco Giants 3-0 in 1-hour and 58 minutes. The paid attendance was 17,437. Executive director George Kirksey said, “We would have been lucky to have drawn 4,000 fans if the game had been played in the afternoon. You can’t expect people to pay their money to come to the ball park and suffer in the heat.”

The Associated Press in Houston reported the night game temperature was 79°. It would have been 95º had the game been played during the day.

Of the cities with major league teams at the time, the heat was an issue in Houston more than any other:

Average highs (from www.myforecast.com)
                                         June   July    August
Houston                       90          92         92
St. Louis                        85          89         87
Kansas City                84          90         87
Washington, D.C.    84          88         86
Baltimore                    83          87         85
Philadelphia               82          86         85
Cincinnati                    82          86         85
Detroit                          79          83         81
Chicago                        79          84         82
New York                    79          84         83
Cleveland                    79          83         81
Minneapolis               79          84         84
Milwaukee                  76          80         79
Boston                          76          82         82
Los Angeles                72          75         76
San Francisco            71          71         72

The Houston club had to deal with the heat until 1966 when the Harris County Domed Stadium opened. Soon after the stadium name was changed to the Astrodome and the team name changed to Astros. Sunday night lights became common for every team.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
June 9, 1963 box score/stats
Weather stats
Houston Astros
Associated Press, Houston, via The Hartford Courant, June 11, 1963

June 4: Fans, beer, trouble

JUNE 4, 1974 | CLEVELAND, OHIO – The suds flowed a little too freely on this date in 1974, and it got scary. A promotion by the Cleveland Indians to get more people into Cleveland Municipal Stadium worked. More than 25,000 showed up for 10¢ beer night, about triple the normal Indians crowd. There was no limit to the beers or, as it turned out, the rowdiness. The fans got more rowdy as the game went on. There were several instances of inebriated fans running on the field and throwing objects at visiting Texas Rangers players.

It all came to a head in the 9th. Texas was up 5-3, and the Indians began to stir, but so too did hundreds of already rowdy fans into their 3rd hour of consumption. The Indians rallied and tied the game 5-5, and still had runners at first and second with 2 outs. This is when the rowdiness turned into more of a riot; fans began stomping on the Rangers dugout, more ran on the field harassing visiting Rangers, especially first baseman Mike Hargrove (later an Indian player and manager, but at the time a Ranger) and outfielder Jeff Burroughs. Ranger Manager Billy Martin, not one to back away from a fight, led some of his players to Burroughs’ aide after fans surrounded him. Even the Indians joined in the rescue. It became apparent the game would not continue. Home plate umpire Nestor Chylak called it a forfeit by the Indians.

There was some history between the Rangers and Indians that year. A week before the Cleveland incident, Texas had a “cheap beer night” with the Indians in town. There was a bench-clearing brawl in that game. Fortunately the fans stayed out of it.

Contributing Sources:
Houston Chronicle, Houston, Texas, April 10, 1965
More on 10¢ beer night
June 4, 1974 box score

JUNE 1 Gehrig begins journey

JUNE 1, 1925 | NEW YORK, NEW YORK – On this date in 1925 twenty-one year old Lou Gehrig pinched hit for New York Yankee shortstop Paul Wanninger. It was the start of something special. The Iron Horse begins his journey. Gehrig would play in every single game for the next 14 years. He would surpass Everett Scott‘s consecutive game record of 1,307, and set his own of 2,130 consecutive games played.

The oft-repeated story is that Gehrig’s streak began when New York Yankee first baseman Wally Pipp asked for a day off because of a headache. Another story is Yankee manager Miller Huggins didn’t start Pipp and several other regulars that day to shake up a slumping lineup. Either story may be true. Gehrig did start at first in place of Pipp on June 2nd – the second day of his streak.

Interestingly, the guy Gehrig pinch hit for on June 1st to start his streak, Paul Wanninger, several years earlier had replaced former consecutive game record holder Everett Scott in the Yankee lineup.

Gehrig’s consecutive game streak ended sadly in 1939. He was forced out of the lineup by a rare disease that sapped the Iron Horse of his strength. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is now more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. His seemingly unbreakable record would stand for 56 years. It was broken by Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles in 1995. But it was on this date in 1925 that the Iron Horse began his journey.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
June 1, 1925
ESPN on Gehrig
Wally Pipp