A record crowd of 93,103 jammed the Coliseum for an exhibition between the Yankees and Dodgers to benefit Roy Campanella.

The Times' Al Wolf and Frank Finch had some debate over the details
but they agreed the crowd overwhelmed the old ballpark. Wolf said about
20,000 people without tickets stood outside the Coliseum. Finch said
the crowd decided not to wait and "overflowed onto the playing field
itself."

John Hall, then writing for the Mirror-News, had a much more
detailed account. "It was the meanest, most unruly, worst crowd I've
ever seen at the Coliseum," said Chief John G. Degenkolb of the
stadium's Fire Department. "There was a gang element."

Hall described "fence pushing, forced gates, broken fences, jammed
ticket booths and a stampede from the peristyle to the right-field
screen." The Mirror-News headline was  "Brawls, Riots Mar Game" but
that seemed a little stronger than Hall's story.

The mess reminded me of the Dodgers' return to the Coliseum
to play the Red Sox in an exhibition game before the start of last
season. The game drew an incredible 115,000 fans. My sons and I didn't
see any trouble that night, but we arrived early, left early and took
buses provided by the Dodgers from Dodger Stadium to the Coliseum. No
facility, no matter how well-staffed or prepared, can easily handle
that big a crowd.

The Campanella game was a wonderful tribute that raised a lot of
money for the paralyzed former Dodger catcher. But those sort of events
require very large doses of patience to survive.

–Keith Thursby