Granillo: A history of post-World Series riots
From SABR member Larry Granillo at Baseball Prospectus on October 31, 2012:
The San Francisco Giants four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers on Sunday—their second world championship in three years—was marred by news out of the bay Sunday night and Monday morning of isolated riots around the city.
From USA Today:
Most went home within an hour or so. However several small groups left the area and began to create havoc around the city’s main thoroughfare, Market Street, in the Mission neighborhood and near AT&T Park where the Giants play. Several fires were set in the middle of streets and photos and videos of a city bus burning were posted on Twitter.
Police scanners described a group of as many as 100 rioters setting fires, smashing windows, throwing bottles at police and damaging cars. By 2:30 a.m. police were reporting that the rioters had scattered, and city crews were cleaning up the burned material and broken glass from the streets so that they could be reopened in time for the morning rush hour.
It was an embarrassing way for fans to celebrate their team’s ultimate victory, especially only 16 months after a much more dangerous and costly riot in Vancouver, British Columbia, following the Vancouver Canucks’ Stanley Cup loss. But riots following championship-clinching games, while not exactly common, aren’t unheard of either. Here’s a brief, incomplete look at World Series-related riots through the years.
1971, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles in seven games on Sunday night. This led to a crazy, scary night in Pittsburgh (source):A World Series victory celebration Sunday night turned into a wave of destruction, looting and sex-in-the-streets. Nearly a hundred arrests were reported and at least that many others were treated at city hospitals.
Newsman reported witnessing two apparent assaults on young women—in full view of hundreds who cheered the assailants—and there were displays of public lovemaking, nudity and drinking.
(Note: At least one paper later called the happenings in 1971 “the ‘riot’ after the Pirates’ 1971 World Series victory—which proved to be far from that…”. I could find no articles explaining what he meant, however.)
Read the full article here: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=18803
Originally published: November 1, 2012. Last Updated: November 1, 2012.