On this day, July 12, in 1979, riots broke out at Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in Chicago, one of the most disastrous sports promotional ideas — right up there with “Ten Cent Beer Night” in Cleveland. Fans could get in free to a Chicago White Sox double-header if they brought a disco record. The records would be heaped onto the pitcher’s mound to be blown up by disc jockey Steve Dahl, who had been axed from a radio station after the format shifted to all disco. An estimated 90,000 fans showed. Thousands of people climbed walls attempting to enter. Fans threw beer, firecrackers, and Frisbeelike records, striking other fans. People stormed the field and started fires. Thirty-nine people were arrested.
— Scott McCabe
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