The legend of the Astros’ free beer ‘Foamer Nights’

On “Foamer Night,” there was a rectangular orange light next to the scoreboard clock in right field. When the digital clock was on an even-numbered minute while the Astros were hitting, the light was illuminated. If an Astros player hit a homer – err, “foamer” – while the light was glowing, fans got free beer the rest of the night through the eighth inning.
Cliff] Johnson became a hit by paying particularly keen attention to that orange light.
The San Antonio native, who led the 1975 Astros with 20 home runs, would take intentionally laborious strolls to the plate if his turn at bat came upon an odd-numbered minute. He’d stop to adjust his batting gloves. He’d call for time as he dug into the dirt with his cleats, keeping an eye on that orange light. When it clicked on, then – and only then – was he ready to hit.

Today in Baseball History: Casey Stengel fined for appearing in a beer ad

Beer and baseball go together like nothing else. But on this day in 1962, Major League Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick decided that Mets manager Casey Stengel was a bit too familiar with beer for his tastes, and fined him $500. How did that come about?

While today’s baseball/beer sponsorship landscape is dominated by multinational behemoths like Anheuser-Busch InBev and Molson Coors, it was a very different story back in the early 1960s. At that time the name of regional beer brands were far more common on billboards, scoreboards, and on tap at the ballpark.

In Baltimore it was Natty Boh. In Chicago it was Old Style. In Minnesota it was Hamm’s. Narragansett Beer sponsored the Red Sox. In Cleveland it was Carling. Stroh’s was the beer of the Detroit Tigers. Schlitz had the Kansas City Athletics, Falstaff was on tap at Los Angeles Angeles games, Iron City was the beer of the Pirates, and in Cincinnati you’d be drinking a Hudepohl at Redlegs games. In the Bronx, where Ballantine’s was the beer of Yankees, each home run hit by a Bomber would be referred to as a “Ballantine Blast” by the Voice of the Yankees, Mel Allen.

The Mets began play in New York in 1962 and when they did they got a local beer sponsorship of their own: Rheingold Beer.

Come for a story of discipline- stay to learn something about the reorganization of the beer industry in 20th-century America!

A beer nerd’s guide to baseball: Ranking every stadium by craft beer offerings

1. T-Mobile Park, Seattle
Top beer: 10
Average beer: 10
Accessibility: 10

The craft beer scene in Seattle is in full bloom, and its ballpark has followed suit. Pacific Northwest labels Fremont Brewing, Reuben’s Brews, Georgetown Brewing, Bale Breaker, Black Raven Brewing, Ecliptic Brewing, Ninkasi Brewing, and even the smaller pFriem Family Brewers all have beers available at the ballpark. There’s a $6 (!) can deal every year, and one year it was a hazy IPA from Georgetown Brewing called Bodhizafa. Practically every food vendor has a craft tap, and there are cans in the aisles.

And not only does this place run on craft beer, but it also has a stand behind home plate (section 129) that boasts hard-to-find cask, barrel-aged and specialty beers on a rotating basis. The list of rare beer releases at that stand last year was enough to excite even the most “hardcore of beer geeks” as Washington Beer Blog put it. Whether you want a cheap can of a crushable IPA, something hazy and local on tap, or something hard to find — you’re not far from it in Seattle, which is the crown jewel of craft beer in baseball.