Baseball's Most Outrageous Promotions: From Wedlock and Headlock Day to Disco Demolition Night

In major league baseball, the period between 1946 and the early 1980s represented the Era of the Barnums, when certain inspired owners and executives raised to an art form the use of promotions to increase attendance. This book highlights thirteen of the most outlandish such stunts in major league history. These promotions go far beyond giveaways of Hawaiian shirts or unique bobbleheads. They involved a battle with weapons between baseball players and fans, children running willy-nilly around a baseball field, naked fans running the bases, drunken fans trashing baseball fields, fans dismantling a stadium while a game was ongoing, fans managing a game from the stands, women parading in wet T-shirts, mass weddings, the Beatles playing to a half-empty stadium, a mule mascot treated better than players, and an explosion on a baseball field large enough to create a crater. Even wilder promotions are covered in impressive detail in this unique study of major league history. Read more