Four decades later, the black and white images serve as static reminders of the dark days (and nights) of life in New York at the time.
The infamous 25-hour blackout on July 13, 1977 has gone down in history as a night of chaos and terror throughout the city that resulted in damages and looting to 1,616 stores, rioting that led to 1,037 fires and 3,776 arrests. According to a congressional study, the blackout resulted in more than $300 million in damages (or roughly $1.2 billion today).
When Shea Stadium went dark just after 9:30 p.m. Mets third baseman Lenny Randle was in the batter’s box leading off the bottom of the sixth inning. Just as Cubs starter Ray Burris wound up … boom.
Lights out.
“It was pitch black, so I swing, make contact, and take off,” Randle said. “What would you do? The Cubs Manny Trillo and Ivan de Jesus tackled me as I coming into second. I’m from Compton so I’m used to playing with no lights, having games lit with candles and car high-beams. We had great eyes and great vision. I figured the game was going to continue, but I guess everyone in charge was too concerned about the ice cream melting.”