Violence at Baseball Game Remembered By TOM WITHERS AP Sports Writer CLEVELAND (AP) - Mike Hargrove keeps a photograph of ``10-cent Beer Night'' hanging on his office wall at Jacobs Field, a reminder of a night 25 years ago when Cleveland Stadium became a battlefield. ``It was crazy,'' said Hargrove, a rookie for the Texas Rangers in 1974. ``Absolutely crazy. I remember not feeling safe until we got back to the hotel.'' Twenty-five years ago today, thousands of Cleveland fans, many of them drunk on 10-cent beer, turned a seemingly harmless promotion during a game between the Indians and Rangers into a night of violence that left players, spectators and umpires bloodied. Memories of the infamous night still shake Jim Fregosi. ``There were a lot of punches thrown,'' said the Toronto manager, who was playing first base for the Rangers that night. ``A lot of people got hurt. Players got hit with chairs over their heads. It was nasty. ``That's as much as I want to remember. It was awful,'' he said. ``They needed the riot squad to get us out of the stadium. It was a mad house.'' Fans fought with fans, with police, with the Rangers and the Indians, many of whom ran on the field to protect their Texas counterparts. Umpire Nestor Chylak and Indians reliever Tom Hilgendorf were both struck in the head with chairs. ``It was like we were in a battle zone,'' umpire Joe Brinkman said. A crowd of 25,134 showed up that warm Tuesday night enticed by the chance to drink as many beers as they could handle for 10 cents apiece. And by the end of the night, it was estimated that over 60,000 cups were quaffed. Trouble had been brewing between the teams after Rangers second baseman Lenny Randle intentionally ran over Cleveland pitcher Milt Wilcox a week earlier. Rangers fans doused the Indians with beer afterward. So when Texas arrived in Cleveland, Indians fans were ready and the cheap beer was additional fuel. When Rangers manager Billy Martin delivered his lineup card before the game, he was booed. Never one to back down, he responded by tipping his cap and blowing kisses. Later, armed with a bat, Martin was running from the fans. Hargrove said nothing prepared him for the violence he would later witness. ``I remember a father and son going out to center field and mooning everybody,'' Hargrove said. ``Streakers were running across the field and I remember one woman coming out and running over to kiss an umpire.'' By the sixth inning with the Rangers leading 5-1, the crowd had gotten rowdier and bolder. Groups of fans began running onto the field. Initially, they dashed out between innings, then between outs and finally between pitches. Some stopped to shake hands with players before being escorted off the field by a badly outnumbered security force. As the Indians closed to 5-3 in the sixth, fireworks and other projectiles were being launched toward the Texas dugout. ``I remember getting spit on a lot and having a lot of hot dogs thrown at me,'' Hargrove said. ``Somebody threw a gallon jug of Thunderbird wine at me.'' Sensing things were getting worse in the seventh, the Rangers pitchers vacated their bullpen and headed to the relative safety of the dugout. Then came the ninth, and mayhem. Cleveland scored two runs to tie it 5-5. More fans poured onto the field in celebration and one threw a punch at Texas right fielder Jeff Burroughs. He punched back, and in an instant, he was surrounded by a dozen fans. ``That's when Billy grabbed a bat,'' said photographer Ron Kuntz, standing next to the Texas dugout. ``I'll always remember this, he grabbed a bat and said, `Let's get 'em boys.' ``The Rangers started going after that guy and before you knew it, there were thousands of fans all over the field. I was scared. The only thing I can compare it to was when I was covering riots in Venezuela and there were guys with Uzis running around.'' Once he knew all the players had escaped the field, Chylak gave the Rangers the 9-0 forfeit, one of only four forfeits in the last 25 years. While wiping away blood, Chylak told the Lorain Journal, ``We went as far as we could go, but you can't pull back uncontrollable beasts. The last time I saw animals like that was in the zoo.'' Tom Grieve, now a broadcaster for the Rangers, said when he heard the game had been forfeited, he was relieved for his safety and that the two homers he hit were safely in the books. ``I was afraid they wouldn't count. Fortunately, they did. I didn't hit many, so I needed those two,'' said Grieve, who hit 65 in a nine-year career. Like Hargrove, Brinkman still has a picture. ``I remember holding on to a guy who had been kicked in the head. I'm holding him and blood is running down his face,'' Brinkman said. ``I think there were about 10,000 people on the field at one time. It was scary.''