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Last edited: August 9, 2008
Reader’s Digest - Characters: The King of Swing | Mike Veeck brings crazy back to baseball. | By Andy Simmons | March 2008
A friend was kind enough to gift me a hardcopy subscription to Reader’s Digest this past Christmas which I have enjoyed thoroughly! I remember Reader’s Digest from when I was a child; my parents had subscriptions off and on and our family had thick hardcover books of Reader’s Digest collections of short stories and such - the magazine was the type of reading material you would find i.e at the doctor’s office or maybe the dentist’s - always good for a quick read about something interesting. The tradition continues - just about the time I’m ready for something fresh in the way light reading, the miniature, plastic-wrapped package arrives in my mail which never fails to contain printed content of one subject or another which, albeit brief, I will inevitably find either informative and / or inspirational if not just plain entertaining.
This past month there was a profile (also available online 
of a very fascinating and entertaining personality, Mike Veeck, a current member of the Veeck family of some note in the history of American professional baseball; son of Bill Veeck, owner at one time or another of a number of baseball teams whose father, William Veeck, Sr. (Mike’s grandfather) at one time was owner of the Chicago Cubs. Bill Veeck eventually became co-owner of the then-minor league Milwaukee Brewers of the now-extinct American Association baseball league and eventually at different times was involved in ownership of the Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns (extinct) and Chicago White Sox. Mike Veeck continues the family involvement in baseball as a team owner as current owner of five minor league baseball teams.
Mike Veeck reportedly was the one of the parties responsible for the notorious Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in Chicago in 1979 in protest to a disco music craze popular at the time. I remember this event from news stories; fans were invited to bring their disco records to the park “to be summarily blown up between games of a doubleheader” as a public relations promotion.
Reader’s Digest: “Was it a success? A hundred thousand people tried to get into a stadium built for half that number, traffic was snarled for miles, and as the disco pyre grew, so did the rioting. In the end, the second game was forfeited.”
Wikipedia: “White Sox TV announcers Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall commented freely on the “strange people” wandering aimlessly in the stands. Mike Veeck recalled that the pregame air was heavy with the scent of marijuana. When the crate on the field was filled with records, staff stopped collecting them from spectators who soon realized that long-playing (LP) records were shaped like Frisbees. They began to throw their records from the stands during the game, and the records often struck other fans. The fans also threw beer and even firecrackers from the stands.”
Wikipedia: “…The large box containing the collected records was rigged with a bomb. When it exploded, the bomb tore a hole in the outfield grass surface and thousands of fans immediately rushed the field. Some lit fires and started small-scale riots. The batting cage was pulled down and wrecked, and the bases literally stolen, along with chunks of the field itself. The crowd, once on the field, mostly wandered around aimlessly, though a number of participants burned banners, sat on the grass or ran from security and police. People sitting in the upper deck could feel it sway back and forth from the rioters.”
Reader’s Digest: “Then it got worse: The team was eventually sold, and Mike lost his job. “Sometimes,” Bill Veeck told his devastated son, “you have ones that work too well.”
Other Mike Veeck promotions:
Reader’s Digest: “…Tonya Harding Mini-Bat Night; Labor Day, when pregnant women got in free; and groundskeepers dragging the infield in drag. Veeck even locked fans out of one park for five innings just to set the record for lowest attendance.”
Read about the time Mike hired mimes to act instant replay at a St Paul Saints game when you read the rest of the article. It’s a hoot!
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