The Terminal Tower Softball Incident

Publicity events are usually fun, easy going, if a bit corny, gatherings that are supposed to improve the image of a company or organization. However there are times when good intentions are hampered by poor planning and bad timing. This is one of those times.  

Terminal Tower during early stages of its construction. Courtesy of Cleveland Scene.

Terminal Tower 

The idea to construct the Union Terminal was conceived by brothers Oris P. and Mantis J. Van Sweringen. Originally it was to be a small station in Public Square with a modest 14 story office building on top of it, just large enough to bring people from their community of Shaker Heights into the city. However their plans quickly grew and they proposed it as the perfect place to put a centralized rail station. In 1919 the city held a referendum and it was decided that Public Square would be the central point for all rail lines in the city. The original plans were scrapped, replaced by new ones for a massive rail station with a looming 52 story tower perched atop it. 

The Van Sweringen brothers. Mantis (left) and Oris (right). Courtesy of Cleveland State University.

In 1924 excavation for the foundation began and the 250 foot long footers for the tower were sunk. Over 1,000 buildings were demolished to make room for the station and multiple bridges and viaducts were constructed to redirect train traffic to the station. Construction of the steel frame began in 1926, and the 708 foot tower was completed in 1928. It was the tallest building in the world, outside of New York City, up until 1967. The station was fully completed in 1930 and it, along with its additional buildings, filled 17 acres of land. Both the station and tower had numerous dedication ceremonies upon their completion, though the reclusive Sweringen brothers did not attend any of them. In 1980 Union Terminal turned 50 years old and would see a rather interesting publicity event during its celebration. 

Terminal Tower during its construction. Courtesy of Case Western Reserve University.

Ted Stepien 

Ted Stepien is someone who has been described by many as strange, eccentric, and aloof at times, though his younger years were pretty normal. He was born to two Polish immigrants and had a pretty normal childhood. Upon graduating high school he was offered a football scholarship to Cornell University, but He declined the offer. Instead joined the Air Force where he went overseas and fought in World War Two. After returning home he used the G.I. Bill to obtain degrees in both business and education. In 1947 his father loaned him $500 and he used it to start the Nationwide Advertising company. It quickly grew to have 35 locations across the US, Canada, and England and he used this newfound wealth to open a chain of restaurants called the Competitors Club. 

Ted Stepien. Courtesy of NBA Hoops Online.

Stepien became a millionaire and it seems that the money went to his head as it was around this time that he started to be looked upon as strange. He began to be much more involved with sports and  became a minority owner of the Cleveland Indians and then bought the Cleveland Jaybirds in 1979, a team in the American Professional Slo-Pitch League. He renamed them the Cleveland Competitors, likely to brand them along with his chain of restaurants, and they did fairly well. In 1980 he became the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the decisions he made with them would cause one to think of him as being “out in left field.” This included changing the teams fight song “Come on Cavs” with a polka dance and placing cheerleaders on the sidelines of the Richfield Stadium. He also made terrible trades that were so bad the NBA banned him from making any further deals without the league's approval. There is even a permanent rule in the NBA that is named after him; the Stepien Rule prevents teams from trading future first round picks in back-to-back years. He also had a rocky relationship with the media, oftentimes having verbal feuds with its members. One time it became so bad that the Cavaliers games stopped being aired on TV for a period of time. Despite all of this it is likely that his most memorable moment came in 1980 during a publicity stunt involving Terminal Tower and his Cleveland Competitors. 

The program for Stepien’s Cleveland Competitors. Courtesy of Fun While It Lasted.

The Terminal Tower Ball Drop

In 1938 the Cleveland Indians did a stunt where baseballs were thrown off the top of Terminal Tower and the players in the street below tried to catch them. On that day catcher Frankie Pytlak set the world record for fastest ball caught at an estimated 138 miles per hour. In 1980 organizers asked the Indians to repeat the stunt for the tower's 50th anniversary, but they declined. So they reached out to Ted Stepien and invited him and his Cleveland Competitors to participate in the event. Seeing it as a way to gain some free publicity for his team Stepien accepted. 

Bystanders looking up to try and see one of the softballs. Courtesy of Cleveland Scene.

On the afternoon of June 24, 1980 Stepien, perched atop the 52nd floor, looked below as six of his Cleveland Competitors stared skyward waiting for the ball to be thrown, behind them stood an eager crowd of roughly 5,000 people. In a somewhat eerie foretelling of events to come Stepien reportedly said “This is bad, I’m really going to hurt somebody.” Just before his first throw someone on the observation deck told him to make sure he threw the ball far so that it would clear the base of the building. With this in mind Stepian launched it roughly 50 feet away before it began hurtling towards the earth. A few seconds later it smashed into a car below, leaving a massive dent. 

The second ball nearly beaned a 66 year old factory worker, just barely missing his skull and nailing him in the shoulder. It was badly bruised but the man refused medical attention. Stepien’s third ball rocketed towards the ground and shattered 24-year-old Gayle Falinski’s right wrist. By this time many people were starting to flee, and those that stayed were pushed away from the tower by police in order to try and keep them out of the way of the aimless projectiles. 

Gayle Falinski sitting in a car having ice applied to her wrist after being hit by a softball. Courtesy of News 5 Cleveland.

A fourth ball was thrown and it luckily bounced harmlessly off the pavement. Stepien, realizing he was throwing the balls too far, lightly tossed the fifth one over the side and its descent was intercepted by outfielder Mike Zarefoss. The crowd cheered and waved as Mike held up the ball in his mitt and was nearly tackled by his other five teammates. They radioed up to Stepien over the walkie talkie to tell him he could stop launching the missiles. 

A ground view of Terminal Tower. Courtesy of Michael Barera.

Aftermath 

The ball drop made national headlines due to the injuries and many wanting to know why they happened. Stepien gave a laundry list of excuses as to why the drop went awry. He said he couldn’t see where the balls were going and that he was told to “throw the balls far,” which was true. He also said that the police had not kept people back far enough because they were just notified about the event that morning and did not have time to plan, it is not known whether this is true or not. In an interview he said, “It's unfortunate that there wasn't a practice or a dry run. This is a dangerous stunt.” When asked about why he kept throwing balls after people were injured Stepien claimed, “We had no communication up there.” This is false because they radioed over walkie talkie that the ball had been caught. However in his defense it is not known whether he was in direct control of the radio or not and it is possible that the person in charge of it did not tell him that people had been injured. It is also possible that their contact on the ground did not know that people had been injured as the large crowd could have caused confusion. 

Another ground view of Terminal Tower showing the scale of it. Courtesy of Crain’s Cleveland Business.

Most people did not see Ted as a bad person after the stunt, instead just someone who was trying to do a good thing that went bad. Gayle Falinski, whose wrist was broken by one of the balls, did threaten to take him to court. However in 1982 they reached a settlement of $35,875 ( $96,181.82 today) and it never went to trial. Today there are no plans to repeat the stunt for the tower’s 100th anniversary in 2030 and it is likely there will not be. 

Personal Thoughts 

This is just one of those freak things that was well intentioned and went terribly wrong. I don’t think Stepien was a bad guy, he might’ve been a bit odd but I think he was well intentioned. I would like to know what the planners were thinking when they decided to go through with this without doing a trial run first. Also, if it’s true that they did not notify police until the morning of the event then that’s just terrible planning. 

You really don’t think about something like a softball really hurting someone but as this proves when something goes fast enough it can severely damage someone. I’m surprised that one guy's shoulder was just bruised and not broken or dislocated, he’s very lucky that it did not hit him on the head. 

Sources 

Cover photo courtesy of the Cleveland State University Special Collections.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/02/10/Cleveland-Cavaliers-owner-Ted-Stepien-has-paid-35875-to/6510382165200/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_gmrudvXTg

https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/terminal/articles/1980

https://case.edu/ech/articles/s/stepien-theodore-h

https://basketball.realgm.com/article/249279/CBA-Encyclopedia-Stepien-Rule

https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/21

https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cleveland-union-terminal

https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball-collectibles/balls/1938-record-setting-high-catch-baseball-dropped-from-cleveland-s-708-foot-tall-terminal-tower/a/7051-80943.s

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1126490/3/