Bill Veeck and "Good Old Joe Earley Night"

For the people who work in the sports industry will agree that without the fans there would never be a game.  In the case of business man and master mind promoter Bill Veeck, he took it to another level in a September 28 night game in Cleveland.  Bill Veeck not only want to pay tribute to the fans, but he wanted to put the average fan on center stage.  In a September 9, 1948 edition of the the Cleveland Press, a man by the name of Joe Earley wrote a letter to the editor with the title "The Night to End All Nights".  The letter that was published was exactly this:
              “Now they want a “Bill Veeck Night.“ It’s a good idea, but here’s another suggestion. Let’s have a “Joe Earley Night.“ I pay my rent and my landlord spends it on things that keep business stimulated. I keep the gas station attendant in business by buying gas regularly. I keep the milkman in clover by buying milk. He uses trucks and tires and as a result big industry is kept going. The paper boy delivers the paper, wears out a pair of shoes occasionally and the shoemaker wins. My wife keeps a grocer and a butcher (don’t we all) in business and the department stores as well. A lot of people depend on me (and you) so let us all get together, and send in your contributions for that new car for “Good Old Joe Earley Night.“ - Joe Earley, 1380 Westlake Ave.

Business man and promotional master mind Bill Veeck

Within days of the letter being published Earley, a watchman at an automobile plant, was bombarded with letters, phone calls and even money.  Earley would later donate all the money to a cancer foundation because he said the joke had run its course.  What the family did not counted on the promotion genius of Bill Veeck, and Veeck quickly got to work.  With the last night game of the season approaching on September 28, he deemed that night "Good Old Joe Earley Night", which Veeck declared a tribute to the average fan.  This would soon be a night that the Earley's and the fans of Cleveland would never forget.  That nights game was not only a promotional night, but it was important for the club because they were one game up on the Red Sox and Yankees for first with six games to play.  The crowd that night was electric and it helped that, with all the promotions going on, the stadium was filled with 60,405 fans.  Along with the tribute to Joe Earley the first 20,000 female fans would receive orchid for the island of Hawaii.  While the fans also received this gift, they would also receive an experience they would never forget.  Before the game Veeck ran out on to the field where he met Earley.  He began to get the crowd fired up and then proceeded with the ceremony.  He first told the crowd that the organization had built the family a new house, and right as he said that the field workers rolled out a brand new out house.  After that the fans went crazy, but that was not all the family received.  The out house was followed by farm animals and a beat up Model T filled with young and attractive female models.  Some of the gifts were very generous though.  These gifts included a truck filled with appliances, a brand new convertible, luggage, books, clothes and a life time pass into any American League ballpark.  At the end of the pre-game festivities the fans were going crazy and were ready for the game.  The fans had finally received a night that honored them, but that was not the only thing they would receive that night.  The Indians led the game off with a lead off home run, which led to a 11-0 rout.  This game helped the Indians extend there lead by to games over both the Yankees and the Red Sox.  Later that week the Indians won their first pennant in twenty eight years.  It had seemed that the outcome of "Good Old Joe Earley Night" not only helped the fans, but it had a positive impact on the organization and the team.  This may have been one of Bill Veeck's craziest promotions, but the impact had an over whelming impact on everyone involved.