BookSpin Author Guest Post and Giveaway!

Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of '76
Dan Epstein
St. Martin's Press
Hardcover


By Dan Epstein

…it always seems that something inevitably slips through the cracks when I'm writing a book. I'd wanted to include the story of the 1976 World Series of Rock concert at Comiskey in Stars and Strikes, but somehow completely forgot about it again until it was too late.  So here, then, is a little "bonus track" on the topic:

The Great Chicago Stoner Fire of 1976

Given the inherent awfulness of the team that Bill Veeck and his gaggle of investors purchased in late 1975, the likelihood of the Chicago White Sox making it to the postseason in 1976 was slimmer than a coke straw. But the World Series still made it to Comiskey Park that year  - the World Series of Rock, that is.

A series of day-long outdoor concerts that had proved immensely popular in Cleveland, where they'd been held at Cleveland Stadium since 1974, the World Series of Rock branched out westward to Chicago for 1976. With the help of local FM rock station WDAI, three WSOR shows were scheduled to be held at Comiskey Park that summer; the first one, on July 10, would be headlined by Aerosmith -- whose fourth and latest LP, Rocks, was the band's most successful yet, reaching #3 on the Billboard albums chart -- with supporting performances by Jeff Beck and the Jan Hammer Group, Derringer ("featuring Rick Derringer," as the ads helpfully noted) and NYC hard rocker Stu Daye.

General admission tickets were ten bucks in advance, $12.50 on the day of the show. The White Sox, obviously, would be out of town at the time.

As with all the WSOR shows, this one offered local rock fans the opportunity to get ripped and groove together in the sunshine to some dynamite sounds, and some 62,000 kids heeded the call -- many of them packing Midwestern dirt weed, pills, powders, firecrackers, and other festive contraband. (Hey, the ad just said no coolers, cans, bottles or alcoholic beverages, right?) The summer temperatures hovered at over 100 degrees, offering a welcome excuse for those who wanted to wear as little clothing as possible, and inspiring a lengthy queue for the Veeck-installed shower in the ballpark's centerfield bleachers. Despite the heat, the drugs, and the crush of people on the field, the afternoon proceeded without major incident -- at least until the middle of Jeff Beck's set, when black clouds of smoke began billowing up from the upper grandstand along the third base line. Shocked murmurs began to spread throughout the dazed and confused crowd: Comiskey was on fire!

The fans in the stands near the blaze began to slowly make their way to safety; many of those on the field tried to put as much distance between them and the conflagration as possible, but their progress was impeded by others who were pushing towards it in order to get a better look.  "Everybody remain calm," implored a voice over the ballpark's P.A. system, while Jeff Beck and his band rocked on, oblivious to the chaos unfolding in front of them. "Please move from the area!"

Beck eventually noticed the black clouds hovering ominously over the field, and brought his set to a halt; for a few awkward moments, he and his fellow musicians seemed unsure whether or not to keep playing. Finally, after a spirited exchange with some fans at the front of the stage, Beck announced, "Fuck the fire!" and cranked up his guitar again -- only to be informed minutes later by ballpark security that he and his band had to leave the stage for "safety reasons".

The Chicago Fire Department moved in to battle the flames -- it turned out that there were two different fires going on simultaneously in the same seating area -- with hoses and axes. Once the fires were extinguished, they turned their hoses on the crowd below, which enthusiastically welcomed the cooling shower. Bill Veeck, who could be seen hobbling about on his peg leg as he inspected the damage, gave the go-ahead for the concert to continue, and Aerosmith took the stage about an hour later.

The origins of the fires were never fully determined. Some newspaper reports claimed that some cushions had caught fire in a storage room adjacent to the area, while other eyewitnesses reported seeing concertgoers whipping lit firecrackers around before the seats went up in flames. Thirteen people, including two firefighters, were injured in the incident -- a remarkably small percentage of the estimated 5,000 people who were sitting in the vicinity of the inferno, especially considering that the ballpark's old wooden seats surely made for some very effective kindling. If anything, the crowd's collectively stoned state might have contributed to its orderly retreat. "Nobody ran. Nobody pushed," an amazed Veeck told the press afterwards. "I have been in many crowds in my time, but never one that reacted and behaved so well."

Still, Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley wasn't ready to take a chance on another concert at Comiskey. The July 31 bill of KISS, Uriah Heep and Ted Nugent was cancelled -- due in part to KISS wanting to play at night so as to make full use of their explosive pyro, which Daley thought would disturb his Bridgeport community -- and the August 13 bill of Yes, Peter Frampton, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Gary Wright was relocated to the Hawthorne Racetrack in Cicero, IL.

Ironically, WDAI -- the radio station that co-sponsored the show -- would inadvertently play a role in the next rock-related fiasco at Comiskey Park. In 1978, WDAI abruptly switched to an all-disco format, outraging and alienating their hard rock base, which followed fired WDAI disc jockey Steve Dahl over to his new gig at WLUP. To get back at his former employers, Dahl soon began staging "disco demolition" events around the city of Chicago, which attracted the attention of Bill Veeck's son Mike. The younger Veeck, who by 1979 was working as the White Sox promotions director, thought a "Disco Demolition Night" promotion at Comiskey just might bring a few thousand extra fans out to the ballpark.  Little did he know.

--Dan Epstein

St. Martin's Press has graciously given me two finished copies of this book for a BookSpin giveaway.  If you'd like to be entered to win, tweet me your favorite baseball team and player.  My twitter name is @Book_Dude.  U.S. entries only please.  Good luck!