Baseball and beer. Inseparable, right? All my life I’ve watched ballgames on TV and seen beer commercials. “Hey, get your cold beer. Hey get your Ballentine!”, “Born in the land of the sky blue waters”, “This Bud’s for you”. We all know the jingles and catchphrases. They are as much a part of the ballgame as the ballgame itself. So where are the beer commercials during Cubs games? I watched several games last week and saw ads for automobiles, telephones, pills that will cure your ills, car insurance, and (get this) water! Yeah, that’s right, water! What the hell is this world coming to!?
I’m not seeing any beer commercials for televised ballgames here either. I wonder how long it’s been that way because I do remember beer commercials. I’m fairly sure they still have them for televised football.
Baseball had always had a connection with beer (look at who owns the Cardinals, for instance), but I think you’re right – I can’t remember seeing a beer ad in a locally televised game.
Back in the 50s beer companies were the major sponsors of the telecast: Ballantine for the Yankees, Rheingold for the Mets (later Schaeffer, I hear). But that stopped by the 80s. By that time, most beer was owned by the big national firms, who probably didn’t think sponsoring a local team was a good way to spend their money. They also moved to advertising on football instead of baseball for the larger audience.
The rise of craft beers didn’t help, since they didn’t advertise as heavily and usually looked for more national exposure. I haven’t been there, but I’d expect that Anheuser-Busch still shows up at Cardinals games, but they’d be an exception.
You just missed them those games. Beer ads on TV are as much a part of major-league baseball as cleats and sunflower seeds. Check Youtube for any number of examples.
Pssst! Not since 1996.
Although Anheuser Bush (now AB InBev) continues to be a leading sponsor of the Cardinals, and Miller is the lead sponsor for the Milwaukee Brewers.
I can remember Ballantine ads on the A’s and Phillies radio broadcasts going back to the late 1940s, even when it was illegal to sell beer at the ball park. One guy did the home broadcasts for both teams (away games were not broadcast unless there was no conflict with a home game and then they did a telegraphic reconstruction). The same guy (By Saam was his name) did all the broadcasts with no color man or other backup and also read the commercials.
Based on the signage around Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers don’t need beer commercials during their broadcasts. You already know that Bud and Montejo are team sponsors, what with the massive signsin the outfield and all.
