Innovative fans beat ban of bottles, cans: Tribe memories

Here is Sunday's essay by Gary Farkas of Mayfield Heights.

View full sizePD file photoLuis Tiant kept many Indians fans entertained in the 1960s, but Gary Farkas of Richmond Heights remembers something else about those days at old Municipal Stadium.

This spring, we asked readers to tell us their best memory at an Indians game. More than 600 responded. All season, The Plain Dealer will publish memories each day the Indians are scheduled to play. Here is Sunday's essay by Gary Farkas of Mayfield Heights.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, I would meet my brothers, Craig and Kevin, at Gate C of the old Cleveland Stadium. For a couple of dollars, we could spread out over multiple seats in left field for a great summer night of baseball.

We were huge baseball fans and loved sitting in left field among the few hundred other fans. Even though we saw more losses than wins, we still witnessed some great moments. Luis Tiant striking out 19 in a 10-inning performance. Earl Weaver ripping up the rule book at second base to show his displeasure at what he thought was a bad call by the umpire. We howled as he kicked the pages around the infield as the ground crew attempted to clean up the mess.

In those days, we were not prohibited from bringing in our own beverages, and we always brought in our own. Sometime during this period, the powers that be decided that outside beverages would not be allowed. Signs declaring "No Cans or Bottles" were displayed at all the entrances.

Sometime later, Craig and I were waiting at our usual spot outside Gate C for Kevin. As we looked up West Third, we could see Kevin, all 6-3, 225 pounds, coming down the street with the biggest cooler you could imagine on his shoulder. Not only did we see him, but also the Cleveland policeman pulling security outside Gate C saw him. You could see the smile on the officer's face that said, "Where does this guy think he's going with that cooler?"

Kevin walked straight for us as the officer approached our little group and set the cooler down. He opened it to reveal that he had taken a case of our favorite brew and poured it into Ziploc baggies. He had these on ice, along with a stack of paper cups. We pointed to the sign and back to the cooler to make our case that we did not have any "Cans or Bottles." The officer smiled as he waved us in.

Needless to say, we were the center of attention as we poured cups of beer for our fellow left-field fans that evening. Not long after this incident, we discovered that "Alcoholic Beverages" was added to the "Prohibited" sign, putting the kibosh on our great idea.

Aaah! The good old days at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2011/04/innovative_fans_beat_ban_of_bo.html

Darren Bent Noel Coward Mark Zuckerberg Christmas and New Year Student politics Guantánamo Bay