The July issue of Chicago magazine is out, and it features an article about Disco Demolition Night, which took place 37 years ago next month at old Comiskey Park in Chicago. This event was one of the most infamous in baseball history. Mike Veeck, son of Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck, teamed with WLUP disc jockey Steve Dahl to to blow up disco records between games during a double header between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. The promotion drew 70,000 fans to a park that sat 45,000, and once the records were blown up, fans rushed onto the field, setting bonfires and raising mayhem, causing the White Sox to forfeit the second game. In terms of a promotion, it was a major success, since people still remember it even today. And this answers a question that has been on my mind for years. Jimmy Piersall, who was Harry Carey's partner in the television broadcast booth for the White Sox back then, got mad at Mike Veeck and started strangling him. Piersall was suspended for this, but Bill Vecck, the team owner, didn't fire him, and Piersall returned to the broadcast booth soon afterwards. Now I know why.
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