40 YEARS AGO TONIGHT: Disco Demolition Night

July 12, 1979 – Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park Chicago, IL

This was a promotion that involved people bringing unwanted disco music records to the game in exchange for an admission fee of just 98¢.

White Sox management was hoping for a crowd of 12,000, which would have been about double the average for a Thursday night game -- but an estimated 90,000 turned up at the 52,000-seat stadium.

When the crate on the field was filled with records, staff stopped collecting them from spectators,  who soon realized that the records were shaped like frisbees.

Some began to throw their records from the stands during the game, often striking other fans. The fans also threw beer and even firecrackers from the stands.

After they blew up the disco records, thousands of fans rushed the field. They tore down the batting cage, started small fires, & ripped out chunks of the field.

The field was so badly torn up that the umpires decided the second game of the doubleheader couldn't be played.

Actor Michael Clarke Duncan (Green Mile), a Chicago native and 21 at the time, attended the game. He was among the first 100 people to run onto the field and he slid into third base. He also went in the dugout and stole a baseball bat.

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