Mike Veeck Interview

[TornLabrum]

Mark Liptak's interview with Mike Veeck appears on the Home Page this week. It's well worth the time reading about some Sox history from an insider.

Great job, Lip!

[DrummerGeorgefan]

Just got done reading it. Great job and fantastic insight. Good work.

[Jerry_Manuel]

Good job Lip.

I was sorta surprised when Lip didn't follow up on this:

ML: I have heard that supposedly, Eddie Einhorn over the years privately apologized to your dad and tried to mend fences with him to no avail. Is that true?

MV: “No Eddie Einhorn never apologized for that remark, Jerry Reinsdorf did, and there is a difference between those two men.”

[Lip Man 1]

Many thanks to all who enjoy these stories.

In regards to the follow up. Mike meant that Uncle Jerry was honorable enough to apologize...I'm not sure what a follow up question should have been but I probably could have thought of something.

Lip

[Jerry_Manuel]

Originally posted by Lip Man 1
Many thanks to all who enjoy these stories.

In regards to the follow up. Mike meant that Uncle Jerry was honorable enough to apologize...I'm not sure what a follow up question should have been but I probably could have thought of something.

Lip

Works for me, I wasn't sure if he meant just in this instance he thought well of Jerry or not.

Nice work as always.

[voodoochile]

Great article, Lip.

Stunning stuff. A real tribute to the history of the team, the Veeck family and baseball in general.

[TornLabrum]

BTW, Lip, you're not related to Steve Dahl, are you? I don't want to be accused of kissing anybody's rear end for starting this thread!

[patbooyah]

lip-

i liked the article, i must say. but it brings up a question i have- how come so many people vilify my dad for disco demolition? he was a twenty-four year old kid who was starting a new family and trying to make a name for himself in chicago. i can promise you that he didn't try to incite a riot. he was just doing exactly what he had been told/planned to do. he had left the field by the time most of the pandemonium broke out. he was in some underground part of the stadium when someone finally told him about the real mess that had broken out- he was watching it on television. he was also told just to stay put. he wasn't trying to cause problems- the fans just went wild. i don't think its fair to put the blame squarely on his shoulders. He never intended any harm.

also- i promise you that he did not have a copyright on the term "disco demolition" five years ago. but the show of support that he got that night is very dear to his heart and i can understand him not wanting to have a 20th anniversary celebration of it in Tampa Bay.

sorry for the rant- the interview was very good. i'm a big fan of the veecks.
pat dahl

[ChiSoxBobette]

Originally posted by patbooyah
lip-

i liked the article, i must say. but it brings up a question i have- how come so many people vilify my dad for disco demolition? he was a twenty-four year old kid who was starting a new family and trying to make a name for himself in chicago. i can promise you that he didn't try to incite a riot. he was just doing exactly what he had been told/planned to do. he had left the field by the time most of the pandemonium broke out. he was in some underground part of the stadium when someone finally told him about the real mess that had broken out- he was watching it on television. he was also told just to stay put. he wasn't trying to cause problems- the fans just went wild. i don't think its fair to put the blame squarely on his shoulders. He never intended any harm.

also- i promise you that he did not have a copyright on the term "disco demolition" five years ago. but the show of support that he got that night is very dear to his heart and i can understand him not wanting to have a 20th anniversary celebration of it in Tampa Bay.

sorry for the rant- the interview was very good. i'm a big fan of the veecks.
pat dahl

What I want to know is why Mr. Veeck was trying to put on a 20th anniversary of Disco demolition when he's working for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays would anyone in Tampa Bay even know what was going on or would it have been associated with something new that Mr. Veeck thought up down there. I would'nt blame the Stever for blocking that idea at all if thats what Steve did.
It also sounds from the article there are still Sox fans out there wishing for the Veeck era to return - Bill Veeck was great(I just finished reading his book) but lets get over it. No matter who owns this team some Sox fans will never be satisfied. I go to the White Sox games and support the team, yeah I know I give my my hard earned money to JR, but I live and die with what that team does during the year and I can't really do anything about who owns the team except stop going to the games which I'm not going to do because thats not going to change the ownership of this team.


GO WHITE SOX!

[Dan H]

Nice job, Lip. It was a great piece of history. The same for the Aparicio feature you wrote. You vividly brought back memories of a great player.

[Frater Perdurabo]

Great interview, Lip. :)

[Lip Man 1]

Pat:

Hi! Didn't know that you were related to Steve. I can only guess at some of your questions. I think your dad was villified in part, because he was the main personality involved with the event. Frankly not a lot of folks even knew who Mike Veeck was but they knew who your dad was (and still is!) It's not fair, I grant you, but personalities get that sort of stuff dumped on them all the time.

Your dad was able to use this 'incident' as a spring board to help a very successful career so it wasn't all bad!

As far as the 'Disco Demolition' lawyers letter I don't know anything about that. I only reprinted what Mike told me. Perhaps that's something you can check with the Devil Rays since they were the ones who got the letter then called Mike to ask him about it. Anyway that's what he said.

Just FYI tell your dad that we at WSI appreciate all the nice things that he has said about the site on his show!

Also if ever he'd like to talk about his memories of Disco Demolition, how it effected his career and his opinions of the whole situation, I'd be happy to interview him at his convienence.

Here's my e-mail: mliptak1@ida.net

This is a legitimate offer to your dad if he'd like to talk. Just ask him to let me know the day and time he'd like me to call. I'll also need a phone number.

I appreciate it.

Lip

[Fisk72]

Excellent interview, Lip. Reading your interviews always makes me yearn to have been older and experienced the time when the Sox were THE team. My parents can't say enough good things about Bill Veck and his son. Here's one for the three of you! :gulp:

[TornLabrum]

Originally posted by patbooyah
lip-

i liked the article, i must say. but it brings up a question i have- how come so many people vilify my dad for disco demolition? he was a twenty-four year old kid who was starting a new family and trying to make a name for himself in chicago. i can promise you that he didn't try to incite a riot. he was just doing exactly what he had been told/planned to do. he had left the field by the time most of the pandemonium broke out. he was in some underground part of the stadium when someone finally told him about the real mess that had broken out- he was watching it on television. he was also told just to stay put. he wasn't trying to cause problems- the fans just went wild. i don't think its fair to put the blame squarely on his shoulders. He never intended any harm.

also- i promise you that he did not have a copyright on the term "disco demolition" five years ago. but the show of support that he got that night is very dear to his heart and i can understand him not wanting to have a 20th anniversary celebration of it in Tampa Bay.

sorry for the rant- the interview was very good. i'm a big fan of the veecks.
pat dahl

Pat, you just made me feel very old. You dad was the age my son is now when he thought of Disco Demolition night. (For perspective, that's Jon Garland's age.)

[voodoochile]

Wills supposedly gave the article a shoutout on his rain delay theater tonight, so I am sure it will draw a crowd.