3. Last Days of Disco
Popular stunts can backfire, as the Chicago White Sox found out in 1979 when they staged a now-infamous "Disco Demolition Night."
Fans were urged to bring in vinyl disco LP records in exchange for 98 cent admission to a double-header, with the knowledge that the records would be collected and blown up in between games. Team management hoped to bring in an additional 5,000 spectators, but 75,000 showed up.
Many of them resorted to scaling walls and fences when turned away. After the first game, a local radio personality detonated the box of records with a bomb, and immediately spectators rioted onto the field, ripping up the bases, destroying the batting cages, and sending the players fleeing.
The home team Sox forfeited the second game, and riot police had to come and disperse the crowd. This promotion came just five years after the Cleveland Indians' Ten Cent Beer Night promotion, which more than tripled the average attendance but also ended in a riot, destruction to the stadium, numerous injuries to players and fans, and forfeit of the game itself.
Image: Photographers cover the game between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. | Photograph: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
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