19. A 1970s Battle Between the Texas Rangers and Indians Fans
Hot on the heels of their leader, the Rangers stormed the field with their bats, to do battle with the fans who by then had knives, chains, and other improvised weapons. In the ensuing battle between the Texans and the Indians fans, things started out well for the Rangers. Before long, however, the locals’ numbers began to tell, and they got the upper hand. As Billy Martin’s routed men fled the field, pursued by hostile Indians fans, it was only good fortune that kept the Texans players from getting killed that night.
The Indians manager realized that the Texans were about to get slaughtered, and acted. He got his own players to arm themselves with bats, and rushed them onto the field to protect the Rangers. In the end, riot police and a SWAT team arrived to break it all up. By then the tally for the night was over 60,000 beers consumed, almost twenty streakers, about ten trips to the emergency room, and nine arrests. The game could not be resumed in a timely manner, so the Indians had to forfeit because of their fans’ drunken antics, and because of their management’s boneheaded decision to enable that fiasco.