American Association SUNDAY Insider: The what ifs of Disco Demolition Night

 As I got home from work today, my Saturday night options were out there. I could've gone to the St. Paul Saints game. I could've gone to a nearby town to catch a Townball game. After working the paying job I was peopled out. Getting on the road last weekend was fun, but then here I am back in baseball purgatory, not a team to root for, just following a league as a whole, it's left me depressed.

So I decided to stay home, eventually grilling out, by the way, if you're ever near Sioux City, pick up Tiefenthaler's brats, they are great on the grill. In between the time I got home and then grilling out, I decided to watch the game that is known to most now as Disco Demolition Night. It was the 46th anniversary of the game on Saturday. So I decided to watch the game in its entirety on Saturday afternoon.

Watching the game, it was fun to listen to the banter of Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall. Caray was so excited about how many fans were already in center field where the general admission area was located. Caray even opined that it would've been a great day to broadcast from the bleachers. Piersall did not share Caray's enthusiasm, saying that he may never see Caray come back alive if he broadcasted from what was becoming a mob of young fans under various forms of influence in the outfield. Caray went on radio and taking over in the middle innings was Lorn Brown. There's our first Independent Baseball connection of this Insider. In a going full circle with the Veeck family moment, Brown was employed by Mike Veeck in 1996 for select TV games on a local cable channel in St. Paul in 1996.

As the game went on, there were frequent delays as fans were throwing records on the field, firecrackers going off in the background like it was July 4th. In the stands the aisles were filled all over the ballpark with fans just trying to find somewhere to sit. Most of which likely had never been to Comiskey Park before. Then the game ended and the ensuing chaos began on the field. As order was restored ninety minutes later, only thing that was left was the aftermath. Part of that aftermath was the blame game and that was focused eventually on Mike Veeck. It essentially blackballed him from Major League Baseball. 

As I was thinking about this, a thought came into my head. What if Disco Demolition went off without the overflowing crowd, and the ensuing damage to the field that resulted in a White Sox forfeit?

Bill Veeck ended up selling the White Sox. Without the blemish of Disco Demolition Night on his record, Veeck would've likely landed another job in Major League Baseball. 

What happened instead has had a huge impact on Independent Baseball. In the Summer of 1992, with the Minnesota Twins enjoying success at the gate in spite of playing in a Dome. Marv Goldklang, who will be inducted into the American Association Hall of Fame on July 22 in Fargo, placed a call to Veeck asking him if he'd like to own a team, the St. Paul Saints, just down the road from the Minnesota Twins, to begin play in 1993. Veeck, along with Goldklang, Bill Murray and others bought the St. Paul Saints.

If Veeck said no, would the Saints have been just another team playing in a municipal ballpark with not much promotion? Would there have been half full bleachers? Would they be part of a Northern League who would not have had a quarter of the publicity it received in its five years? Would the rest of the league succeeded and eventually expanded? What if the promotions that Veeck introduced in St. Paul and became staples in stadiums all around the Northern League never happened?

Without the Saints and the success of the Northern League, would we have seen leagues pop up all over the country? Granted the Frontier League also began in 1993, but they did not get off to the best start at the gate. Eventually the Atlantic League set up shop. Other leagues that were anxious to begin even if they were not financially viable came and went. The Texas-Louisiana League started and helped provide a South Division for when the American Association was formed in the Fall of 2005.

So as you head out to watch your favorite American Association team play this Summer. Realize that in a real round about way that many of the promotions you enjoy when you come out to the ballpark may not have come to fruition is it wasn't for Disco Demolition Night. And if you're in Fargo for the All Star Game, and you see Marv Goldklang, thank him for making that call to Veeck. Also ask him how come he decided against owning the Duluth-Superior Dukes. 

American Association Power Rankings

1. Sioux City Explorers

2. Kansas City Monarchs

3. Chicago Dogs

4. Sioux Falls Canaries

5. Cleburne Railroaders

6. Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks

7. Lake Country DockHounds

8. Kane County Cougars

9. Milwaukee Milkmen

10. Winnipeg Goldeyes

11. Lincoln Saltdogs

12. Gary SouthShore RailCats