Weather records <\/strong>(from the National Weather Service, Chicago<\/a>)<\/p>\n 1979: <\/strong>What was supposed to be a doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers at Comiskey Park turned into a debacle<\/a>. The Sox lost the first game 4-1 but never got to the nightcap.<\/p>\n Up to 50,000 people \u2014 admitted for just 98 cents and a disco record \u2014 showed up for a promotion in which radio personality\u00a0Steve Dahl<\/a>\u00a0took to the field between games to blast thousands of\u00a0dance-themed discs<\/a>\u00a0into oblivion.<\/p>\n Nancy Faust<\/a>, the White Sox\u2019s organist for 41 seasons, remembers: \u201cI was playing \u2018Disco Sucks\u2019 along with people chanting it until it turned unruly. I was to play \u2018Do You Think I\u2019m Disco\u2019 for Steve Dahl and he just started singing it without the intro or anything. So then I just fell into place with him. I remember Bill (Veeck) pleading with the fans and how pathetic that was.<\/p>\n Vintage Chicago Tribune: Nancy Faust\u2019s White Sox memories, from Harry Caray to \u2018Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cI realized this was kind of serious when I remember looking across the field and seeing flames in the stands. So I thought, \u2018Oh my goodness, this is serious.\u2019 But, I mean, I don\u2019t think I realized the full impact until I watched the videos more recently of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly after the detonation, Dahl\u2019s fans flooded the field. Tribune columnist Paul Sullivan<\/a> was one of them.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was crazy running around on a Major League Baseball field, sliding into the bases and standing on the pitcher\u2019s mound,\u201d he said. \u201cI grew up going to games at old Comiskey and never dreamed I\u2019d ever be on the field.<\/p>\n \u201cSome guy pretended he was an umpire at home plate, calling people safe and out as they slid home one after another. Everyone just looked at each other like, \u2018Can you believe this is happening?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cMost of us were just running around, but someone managed to drag a batting cage out from center field and lit it on fire. People were jumping over the fire, which was fairly big. It\u2019s amazing no one got burned.<\/p>\n Disco Demolition at 40: 2 views of an explosive promotion that caught fire at Comiskey Park in 1979<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cHarry Caray and the owner, Bill Veeck, got on the public address system and tried to coax us to go back to our seats, and I seem to recall them trying to get everyone to sing \u2018Take Me Out to the Ball Game.\u2019 But nothing was going to work.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the kind of crowd that would take orders from Harry Caray.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was actually starting to die out when all of a sudden dozens of cops came in on horseback, making a gauntlet and marching out toward the outfield. I was well aware of the \u201968 convention riot, so that\u2019s when I decided to get off the field.<\/p>\n \u201cI did grab a chunk of turf before I left. I\u2019ve apologized profusely to Roger Bossard, the Sodfather, for that ever since. We completely tore apart his field, which caused the forfeiture of the second game.\u201d<\/p>\n Ninety minutes, 39 arrests for disorderly conduct and a half-dozen injuries later, the second game was called off. It was ruled a forfeit by the American League on Friday the 13th<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sox owner Bill Veeck\u00a0didn\u2019t agree<\/a>\u00a0with the ruling, which was the\u00a0first forfeit<\/a>\u00a0in the league in five years.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a regrettable incident, but not sufficient grounds for forfeit,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cBut we won\u2019t go out of business because of it. It seems to me a Chicago paper ran a headline sayin\u2019\u00a0Dewey defeated Truman<\/a>\u00a0some years ago. Did they go out of business?\u201d<\/p>\n Subscribe to the free\u00a0Vintage Chicago Tribune<\/a>\u00a0newsletter, join our\u00a0Chicagoland history Facebook group,<\/a> stay current with Today in Chicago History<\/a> and follow us on Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for more from Chicago\u2019s past.<\/p>\n Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mmather@chicagotribune.com<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\n
![\"Even](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ctc-sozdiscojpg-CT0029847762.jpg\")
Even before the trouble between games occurred on Disco Demolition Night, Comiskey Park was having a tough time accommodating the overflow crowd on July 12, 1979. (Ed Wagner Jr.\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Disco](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ctc-709-dis376229.jpg\")
Disco Demolition Night was the brainchild of WLUP’s Steve Dahl, who had been fired from radio station WDAI-FM when the station switched to an all-disco format. Dahl had staged previous anti-disco rallies, but nothing compared to the stunt at Comiskey Park. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)<\/p>\n\n
![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CTC-L-AP-DISC0-DEMOLITION-COMISKEY-PARK-1979-01.jpg\")
Chicago police disperse a crowd in center field of the White Sox ballpark after hundreds of disco records were blown up between games of a doubleheader between the Sox and the Detroit Tigers on July 12, 1979. Some 7,000 fans of a 50,000-fan crowd jammed the field during an anti-Disco promotion sponsored by a local radio station. The second game had to be called when umpires ruled the field unfit for play. (Fred Jewell\/AP)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ctc-31284288.jpg\")
The evening got off to a bad start when 15,000 too many fans showed up at Comiskey Park and were unable to buy tickets on July 12, 1979. Police beefed up their patrol outside the park to 100 but chaos reigned inside as fans roamed the field at will, carrying anti-disco placards and chanting. (Ed Wagner Jr.\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ctc-5col-6p181885987.jpg\")
The scoreboard message at Comiskey Park goes unheeded as thousands of spectators engulf the field during an anti-disco demonstration that caused the second game of a doubleheader to be called off. Detroit won the opener 4-1. (Hank George\/UPI)<\/p>\n![\"On](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CTC-L-HIST-070909-tempo-0709-disc_189245253.jpg\")
On July 13, 1979, workmen replace sod at Comiskey Park that was damaged by the previous day’s Disco Demolition promotion. They also had to clear the field of debris \u2014 broken disco records \u2014 and repair the infield. (Carl Hugare\/Chicago Tribune)
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