Baseball, fireworks & various accurate memories
An incomplete history of Independence Day fireworks at baseball games that's eye-opening ... and eye burning
I keep forgetting to take my memory pills.
I’m going to claim that’s why this Newsletter is one day late.
My memory is astonishingly detailed at certain things. For example, I wrote an essay detailing exactly where I’ve watched every Super Bowl since I was old enough to remember watching them.
Recently I bought something online – I don’t remember what it was – and it came with a free gift to select. One of the options was “Alpha Brain” from OnIt, which is promoted by Joe Rogan and claims to help support memory and focus.
I was curious if it actually worked, and it was free, so I tried it. I thought I’d take it about 30 minutes before the start of the Albuquerque Isotopes baseball games that I broadcast. But I kept forgetting to take it. So I put a reminder on my phone to take it. That helped some, but I kept forgetting to re-remind myself with another reminder when the game times changed.
The most confusing part is the directions. Look at the suggested use: “… take two capsules daily, preferably with a light meal. Do not take more than one serving in a 24-hour period.”
Wait, what? Take two per day, but not more than one in a 24-hour period? Was this a test if we remembered the first sentence before reading the second sentence?
I finally remembered enough. The bottle is almost gone. I have one or two capsules left. I honestly felt no difference whatsoever. If anything, I remember getting an upset stomach a few times after taking them.
Still, I’m going to use this as an excuse for why this Newsletter is being published now, late on a Friday afternoon July 5th, instead of the morning of July 4. Oh wait, I already forgot that was my second sentence.
Tim Raines inside-the-park homer
One of my first memories of attending a baseball game was at Mile High Stadium. It was July 4th, 1980. The Denver Bears were the Triple-A affiliate of the Montreal Expos. Tim Raines was the star of the Bears. Raines hit a walkoff inside-the-park home run to win the game for the Bears. There was a huge crowd and a fireworks show followed.
At least, that’s my memory.
That’s the story my Dad and I told each other a lot over the years, especially when Tim Raines became a star in the major leagues. We saw him when he was still a minor leaguer!
I went back on newspapers.com to find out how much my memory is accurate and found this story.
All things considered, we weren’t too far off. Not too shabby.
The game was played on July 3rd, not July 4th. That’s an understandable mistake. Not always, but overwhelmingly, minor league baseball schedules are created so every team gets a home date on July 3 or July 4. Teams hold their biggest baddest longest loudest fireworks show to go along with it and it’s frequently the largest crowd of the year.
It was an inside-the-park home run, but not a walkoff. The Omaha paper reported it came in the 8th inning. The UPI version said it was the seventh inning. Either way, it was the difference in Denver’s 2-1 over the Omaha Royals.
The crowd was huge, reported as 58,980 fans, the largest in minor league baseball history at the time. [Mile High Stadium was originally called Bears Stadium and built just for baseball, then expanded for football and the Denver Broncos. The NFL team and Triple-A team shared the stadium, until the Colorado Rockies became a MLB expansion team in 1993.]
The Denver Bears, later called the Denver Zephyrs, were accustomed to enormous crowds for Fireworks Shows around Independence Day. The headlines from those crowds were important reminders of how much fans would support a future MLB team in the Rocky Mountain Region.
When did the marriage between baseball and fireworks begin?
Nobody is quite sure exactly when the marriage between baseball and fireworks was consummated. But two days stand out.
July 4, 1909 in Pittsburgh. It was a few days after Forbes Field opened. The Pirates staged a doubleheader. The starting times were 10:30 am and 3 pm. After the second game, close to 40,000 fans stayed until it got dark enough to watch the scheduled fireworks show.
May 24, 1935 in Cincinnati. This was the first night game in MLB history at Crosley Field. [A few minor league teams held previously played night games.] The lights went on at 8:30 pm and the game started at 9 pm. I’ve read there was postgame fireworks, courtesy of Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks. But the stories from The Cincinnati Enquirer mentions pregame fireworks. Maybe there was both.
My own fireworks memories
As a kid growing up near Oakland, whenever the A’s schedule came out, I always had a few favorites that I’d want to attend. My Dad was really good about making it happen: Hat Day, Baseball Card Day and 4th of July.
For the July 4 game, we’d want to sit in the bleachers because fans in those seats needed to be brought onto the field to get out of harm’s way. You know those random steps in left field and right field at the Coliseum?
They really did have a purpose! We’d go down those steps onto the field, play catch, and watch the fireworks. I can’t remember how many times we watched a 4th of July game at the Coliseum. It was somewhere between 3 and 10.
As the A’s beat writer for The Oakland Tribune in the 2000s, I had a different perspective in postgame fireworks. My goal was to file all my stories for the night before the fireworks began — so I wouldn’t get stuck in traffic.
As the co-host Post Game Dodger Talk on 790 KABC in 2010s, I had yet another different perspective. I loved the fireworks shows at Dodger Stadium because it meant we had a captive audience of fans stuck in the parking lot unable to move. We’d extend the shows even longer.
Fireworks at 4:01 am? When fireworks go wrong
The most infamous postgame fireworks show occurred in 1985 when the Atlanta Braves host the New York Mets. The game started on July 4, but was delayed twice by rain, and then it went 19 innings, spilling over to July 5.
Baseball fans refer to this as “The Rick Camp Game” because pitcher Rick Camp hit a game-tying home run in the 18th inning – the only home run of his career -- to keep the game going. [Watch the reaction of Mets third baseman Ray Knight and left fielder Danny Heep.]
The game finally ended at 3:55 am, and at 4:01 am, the Braves decided to deliver the fireworks show they had planned. Terrified residents in Atlanta thought the city was being attacked and called 911 in anger.
Overall, 1985 was not a good year for baseball and fireworks.
It didn’t receive as much attention, but the Albuquerque Dukes baseball game was suspended because fans were shooting off fireworks that went off over the stadium and some ended up on the field. The teams were called off the field at one point, then the game restarted and so did the unruly fireworks.
The game was suspended and finished the next day. The Albuquerque Tribune reported one woman was hit in the eye by a bottle rocket, but it was reported the injury was minor. Really! That was a minor injury?
4th of July without fireworks
I’m always surprised when baseball teams schedule day games on July 4th and don’t shoot off fireworks. It seems like a no-brainer. Fans can’t seem to get enough fireworks and it leads to large crowds.
A guy I follow on Instagram posted a photo of his ticket stub from Candlestick Park in 1984. The Giants scheduled a doubleheader, which started at … 10:30 am!
I know the Giants played a lot of day games in the 1980s because Candlestick Park was so cold and miserable, but I can’t fathom a morning game on the 4th of July to begin a doubleheader. I can only imagine how pissed all the players were.
Without formal fireworks, some knuckleheads thought they’d bring their own pyrotechnics to the ballpark. Check out the final note from Nick Peters’ story in The Oakland Tribune. A woman suffered facial cuts and burns from a home-made cherry bomb.
More fireworks memories
I’ve got a few more memories of 4th of July fireworks shows.
In 2007, I was broadcasting for the Single-A Modesto Nuts in a game at John Thurman Field, which goes right up against a muni golf course. Citizens who like fireworks but not baseball go to the golf course to watch. That year, it was overcast, very little wind, and eager fans began setting off their own fireworks during the game. I remember the smoke from the fireworks was so thick the center fielder lost a ball in the smoke and it fell to the ground.
This next story I can’t verify with a contemporary news report. But I remember talking to a player about a firework show from a different year on July 3rd or 4th. The team and city partnered on the fireworks, but with the stipulation the fireworks couldn’t be shot off after a certain time of the night. [Let’s call it The Rick Camp Rule.]
When the game was delayed by rain and stretched into the cutoff point, management made the decision to pause the game for the 10-minute fireworks show. After the fireworks ended, most of the fans went home and the game was finished in front of just the diehards.
I should have more stories … but yeah I can’t seem to remember them.
Do you have any strong memories of 4th of July fireworks at a baseball game?
Those old stairways in the Coliseum.....back in the day, that is how fans walked to the bleachers in the football configuration! Be well Josh!