Former Tiffin man writes book

TEXAS—Scott Jarrett recently published his non-fiction book detailing an uproarious June 1974 Cleveland riot following a (Guardians) vs. Rangers baseball game where beer was sold for just ten cents. Jarrett's new book "Ten Cent Beer Night," describes how the night started off like any other, but quickly turned to rioting that ended in the game being forfeited in favor of the Texas Rangers. He later said, after the riot, then TV personality, Johnny Carson joked that the riot was caused by drunk fans needing to use the restrooms, but the bathroom doors were locked. While this wasn't true, Jarrett said what actually might have caused the violence was "a growing fire" of the Vietnam war, the infamous Watergate Scandal and gas prices spiking. "There were sort of these tensions in American life that were part of the overall story," he said. The Cleveland (Guardians) team was almost bankrupt and was even considering moving to a different state. In order to earn more money, the team held a promotion. Fans who attended the June 4, 1974 game could buy beer for ten cents a glass without limitations on how many cups each person could buy. So most people in the stands were drunk. Jarrett said the team was "just trying to save baseball in Cleveland." But no one was ready for the riot that would ensue. "How could you prepare for something that's never happened before?" he asked. While no one was killed during the event, several people were injured, stadium property was stolen or damaged and fans stormed the field, while others chose to sit back and enjoy the show. Jarrett also recalled how one person told their young son to run the bases, because it "may be their only chance," but at that point, the bases had already been stolen, literally. Jarrett said the police came in and everyone was sent home and the game was forfeited to the Texas Rangers. While writing the book, Jarrett wasn't sure he could make a whole book out of one game, but says that there was so much happening in 1974 and as the 50th anniversary of the riot approached in June of this year, he knew it was "now or never." He later said the idea came from a lunch meeting with friends who would incessantly tease him for being a Cleveland fan and where the game came up as a topic of discussion. But it took him, he estimates, five to six years to write. From the time of inception, before COVID-19 to working on it while isolated from the rest of his household to publishing it. While he has tried his hand at fiction, and may still again in the future, he says he really enjoys the "scavenger hunt feel of nonfiction." He started by interviewing the man in charge of the ten-cent beer promotion and from there slowly built up a list of 25-30 people who attended the game, as fans, reporters or officials and was able to write from these first-hand accounts of what happened or from reading about it in news sources or books about the game. While Jarrett was not at that game, he has a fond history with baseball and Ohio. He recalled spending many summer days playing pickup games of baseball with his friends in Tiffin. "It felt a little bit like the movie "Sandlot," Jarrett said. "It was just a group of us on Harvest Lane that would seemingly play from the morning to the evening." He graduated from Tiffin-Columbian High School in 1988, then studied English at Kenyon College before returning to Tiffin to work for the Advertiser-Tribune as a journalist for a brief time. From there, he moved on to the Mount Vernon News and attended Kent State to earn a Master's in teaching. He now teaches journalism and photo and video editing to middle schoolers in Austin, Texas, where he lives with his wife and kids. But he still visits Tiffin every summer and dedicated the book to his parents John and Carol Jarrett and brother Jim Jarrett. "Ten Cent Beer Night" is available for sale at Pan Yan bookstore, Bookbaby.com and Amazon.