June 21, 1974: The Cadillac Ranch Opens

Photo taken shortly after installation, 1974

June 21, 1974: The Cadillac Ranch opens, off U.S. Route 66, 10 miles west of downtown Amarillo, Texas. It was created by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels. It consists of 10 Cadillacs, model years 1949 to 1963, buried nose-first in the ground. The cars are inclined at the same angle as the Pyramids of Giza.

The "Ranch" became one of the tourist attractions along Route 66, along with the various motels, stores, gas stations and restaurants that, with the rise of neon signs, began displaying artwork that reflected the Wild West and Native American themes of the Western States the road went through: Illinois, Missouri, a small corner of Kansas, Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico, Arizona and California. The cars have been stricken with graffiti, painted in pop art style, and repainted several times.

Photo taken March 14, 2022.

The Dallas Tigers, painted on the 2nd car,

are a youth baseball team.

Most sections of Route 66 between California and Oklahoma were replaced by Interstate 40. The "ranch" was moved 2 miles in 1997, but is still accessible from I-40.

Bruce Springsteen had a song titled "Cadillac Ranch" on his 1980 album The River, using the ranch, and Cadillacs themselves, as emblems of death, since Cadillacs have often been converted into hearses. In 1985, James Brown included the "Ranch" in the video for his song "Living in America."

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June 21, 1974 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Shea Stadium, where the Yankees groundshared with the Mets while the original Yankee Stadium was renovated. Mickey Lolich outpitched Cecil Upshaw. Al Kaline, in his final season, went 2-for-4. Bill Sudakis hit a home run for the Yankees.

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Tom Seaver outpitched Steve Carlton, although these 2 "strikeout artists" only had 7 strikeouts between them. The Mets' runs came on 2 home runs by John Milner, and 1 by Rusty Staub. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 1-0 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Carl Morton allowed 9 hits and 3 walks, and Tom House had to get the last out, but they completed a shutout, to outpitch Jack Billingham, who allowed just 5 hits and 3 walks. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3. Pete Rose went 2-for-5, Johnny Bench went 0-for-5, and César Gerónimo went 4-for-4.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-6 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rookie Robin Yount went 0-for-3 with a walk. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Willie Stargell hit a home run.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 11-7 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Ken Henderson went 3-for-4 with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs. For the Twins, Tony Oliva hit a home run, and Harmon Killebrew hit a pinch-hit RBI single, but Rod Carew, uncharacteristically, went 0-for-5.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 5-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Lou Brock went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. This was the season he set a major league record (and a National League record that still stands) with 118 stolen bases, but he was caught in his only attempt in this game.

* The Texas Rangers swept a doubleheader from the California Angels, 12-3 and 6-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Diego Padres, 2-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Larry Dierker took a 4-hit shutout into the 9th, but Fred Scherman had to get the last 2 outs for him.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Bill Buckner led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a home run.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-4 at the Oakland Coliseum. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-2 with a walk. Rookie George Brett went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* And the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians were rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Tribe won the opener, 11-0. Gaylord Perry pitched a 4-hit shutout, will Bill Lee didn't get out of the 4th inning. Future Red Sock Frank Duffy went 4-for-5 with a home run and 5 RBIs.

The BoSox won the nightcap, 8-3. The ironically-named Reggie Cleveland, who pitched 13 seasons in the major leagues without ever throwing a pitch for the Indians, outpitched Gaylor's brother, Jim Perry, who didn't get out of the 3rd inning. This time, Duffy went 0-for-4. Over the 2 games, Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-6 with 2 walks.