It's a combination older than Tinker to Evers to Chance. Beer barons were among the original owners, and they've been part of the game ever since.
When baseball took to the airwaves, we heard the roar of the crowd, "Going, going, gone!", and lots of beer commercials. Many of us still remember jingles we'd heard long before we were old enough to drink.
Most of the breweries that sponsored those broadcasts have disappeared; they couldn't survive the industry's postwar shakeout. Lately, however, their place has been taken by a fresh generation of brewers, whose beers are far more adventurous than the lager Grandpa drank at the ballgame.
I've been a baseball fan most of my life. A while back, a longtime dream came true: seeing a game in every major league ballpark. Wandering around the stadiums, one thing that caught my eye was better fare at the concession stands–including craft beer.
Most ballparks have added microbrews to their beer selection. You can enjoy a draft from the Red Bell Brewery at a Phillies game, try Great Lakes Brewing's Elliot Ness and Dortmunder Gold at Cleveland's Jacobs Field, or sample the Oldenberg line of beers while watching the Reds play at Cinergy Field...just to name a few. Want to know what's on tap elsewhere in the majors? Visit Gregg Glaser's "The Beers of Summer" website.
When the Colorado Rockies joined the majors, Coors Brewing Company took ballpark beer to the next level, building a microbrewery called the Sandlot Brewing Company and a pub called Rounders. The pub is literally part of Denver's Coors Field; it even has a separate entrance into the park. And the beer? It's been a hit with beer judges and baseball fans alike: both Pinch Hit Pilsner and Wild Pitch Hefeweizen have won medals at the Great American Beer Festival.
There's also a brewpub at Phoenix's Bank One Ballpark: the Leinenkugel Ballyard Brewery. So what's a brewery from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, doing in the Valley of the Sun? For one thing, Leininkugel's parent, the Miller Brewing Company, is a sponsor of the Arizona Diamondbacks. And one of the partners in the venture is Hall of Famer Robin Yount, who played 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers...who happen to train in Arizona every spring.
Anheuser-Busch has also gotten into the act. The nation's number-one brewer operates a Budweiser Brew House at Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Care for a tall cold one after the game? In many cities, it's easy to find good beer near the ballpark. Let's take a quick trip around the horn:
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