Seattlest Pix 09Nov24
Tuesdays are Muppet Days
Seattle to Remain Famous for Coffee and Rain
Can't Miss It: Monday
Thanksgiving Pairing Suggestion: Sides with a Pint
Bill Scott died Sunday. As Bill the Beerman, he was Seattle's most recognizable sports figure in the early-80s. Him or Jack Sikma.
Here's what going to a Mariners game was like back then. You and your Dad would leave Greenlake at about 6:45 for a 7:05 game. You'd sail down 99, encountering no traffic. You'd park at Bemis Bag Warehouse, about a block and a half from the Kingdome. You'd cross 1st ave and walk up it to this small daylighted crack between two buildings, slide through onto the platform of an old warehouse, walk across it and hop down onto Occidental. You'd walk up to the ticket line, which was maybe two or three people long, and Dad would pay $7 each for two tickets in about the 15th row, halfway between home and first base. You be in your seat by first pitch.
There were no between-innings entertainments, and, given the Mariners' roster, few during-innings entertainments either...when he was around, Bill the Beerman, exhorting the fans, starting the wave, was the only entertainment you had.
Scott took his act to other cities in the mid-80s, working as a paid crowd exhorter--but he never made more than $50k in a year.
His reappearance at Mariners games in 1995 was yet another bit of magic in that magical season. But after the season was over, the M's didn't want to keep the Beerman around. The story we heard--and we have nothing to back this up but common sense--is that the M's didn't want a big fat loudmouth disturbing the peace of the high-rollers sitting with their corporate clients in $150 seats during games.
The spontaneity and low-budget theatrics that Bill the Beerman represented are disappearing. In Huskyland, AD Todd Turner points to the existence of Porta-Potties outside Husky Stadium as evidence that our fans don't have "a world-class experience." Yeah, we guess you wouldn't want Porta-Potties outside the Metropolitan Opera House, but it's sports we're talking about--not corporate-sponsored art...or is it?
With Bill the Beerman around you could be sure what you were watching. Now--well, sometimes it's best just not to think about it.
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A very sad story. For my generation of sports fans, you couldn't grow up in this town without knowing and loving Bill the Beer Man. He knew how to help us enjoy the game that much more without becoming the show himself. He taught me that it was my duty to lose my voice and made me abhor those who dared attend a game to sit on their hands. I'm glad he had his moment last year at Qwest Field and I'll always remember him when I think about those days inside the dome during my youth...
By the way, there is a fantastic old picture of the Beer Man and Peanut guy on the Seattle Times website...priceless.
I don't remember Bill as I spent most of my baseball youth in New York City attending Yankees games (please, hold the jeers. this isn't a NY vs. Seattle post at all) but I did visit the Kingdome a few times as a kid when I lived here for a few years and I was a rabid baseball fan back then (we're talking mid 80s here).
I don't ever remember the Kingdome being loud or anyone wanting it to be. It was a cavernous space that seemed to intimadte people and defintely kept them quiet. Is the first commenter really sure that in the Kingdome "that it was my duty to lose my voice and made me abhor those who dared attend a game to sit on their hands?" It always seemed pretty quiet to me and Safeco is no different. I can't count the number of dirty looks I've gotten (as an adult) there when I cheered too loudly for the M's.
you should have been there for a few seahawk games man. The NFL actually instituted a rule (granted, they never really enforced it, but I think the ruls is still on the books) allowing the referees to penalize a home team because of the crows being too loud because of how loud it got during the 1980's...
From The Sporting News. Bill was a big part of this:
The 12th Man began in 1984, when the Seahawks retired the jersey number 12 to honor their fans. Back then, the otherwise drab Kingdome was the loudest venue in the NFL, even though the team had just two winning seasons in its first seven years after beginning play in 1976.
The league even briefly instituted a rule in the 1980s calling for a five-yard penalty on teams if their home crowds did not quiet enough for visiting teams to call plays. It was widely known as the "Kingdome rule."
Davis said "the most amazing thing I had ever seen" was the day Denver's John Elway stepped away from his center amid the din. Elway turned his palms toward the Kingdome's concrete roof and pleaded to the referee that he could not call signals. The referee eventually flagged Seattle more than once that afternoon.
I was at a Denver/Seattle game while that rule was in effect...I think it was the second year, and the officials had largely given up on enforcing it. I remember screaming for Rufus Porter to sack Elway, which he did, but not enough, and the Broncos won in ot, I think.
Agreed, Charlie--the Kingdome was rarely loud, in fact, it was probably louder for Yankee games than any other time.
It was loud and fun, but I was a little girl so it was overwhelming at times. I can remember sitting in the stands waiting for my dad to come and check on me and my brothers. When he would finally make it to us he would say in a loud voice these are my children. He was very proud and people would say is that your dad?. I was proud, but I do not think I realized as a little girl just how much of an impact Bill "the beerman" had on the fans at the Kingdome or any where. He will forever be immorilized in the Hearts of peopele in seattle.
I knew Bill for over 30 years. First as his advisor in college and then at the King Dome. As a 25year ticket holder from the start of the Sea Hawks, Bill used to come by our seat at each game and with his sweaty face and beard lean down and give my wife a kiss, shake my hand and then off he would go . We often ran into Bill around the area along with Rick "The Peanut Man". Both have been friends for many years. We will miss him.