Feeling regrets after twenty-two (presumably guilt-ridden) years following the Disco Demolition debacle, promoter Mike Veeck (whose idea it had been, not Bill his father's), now working as a marketing consultant for the Florida Marlins, issued a formal apology on July 12, 2001 to the 32,629 baseball fans in attendance.
The "ceremony" was held before the Marlins/New York Yankees game, as part of the evening's "Disco Night" theme. That night the Marlins had asked attendees to show up in discotheque regalia and Harry Wayne Casey, KC of KC and the Sunshine Band was on hand (at Veeck's request) to receive the apology on behalf of the entire disco world.
Veeck said to the crowd, "I want to make it right. I want to tell you right from the bottom of my leisure suit that I'm sorry."
After the chaotic night in 1979, Veeck "didn't work for 10 years in baseball," he said, adding, "It backfired, and I took the heat. And it cost me personally. I went down the sewer. KC wasn't the only one whose gravy train stopped. I didn't work in baseball again until 1989."
Previously, Casey had stated, "It wasn't a very nice thing to do. There was no reason or call for it. It was a direct hit on myself and other artists who did that for a living. I didn't bash his baseball team."
Casey accepted his apology at the game, however, bringing Veeck much-needed closure.
Steve Dahl was not contacted by anybody, nor did he issue any statements of his own. He no longer works for Chicago's WLUP, 97.9, "the Loop." Mike's Dad Bill Veeck who had owned the Sox between 1959-1961 and bought them again in 1975 also had nothing to say. The BeeGees remained silent, but the disco community stays alive...
Incidently, a non-disco-related (basketball great) Alonzo Mourning threw out the first pitch, and the final score of the game was Marlins 9, Yankees 3.
quotes and information swiped from AP news, as originally heard on NPR, and the Miami Herald.
Story at yahoo:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news/ap/20010712/ap-discodemolition.html
Disco Demolition "homepages":
http://www.outernetweb.com/focal/disco/ and
http://www.deepdisco.com/features/