When New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke with media about CC Sabathia’s decision to leave the team for immediate alcohol rehabilitation, he treated the moment with the severity and concern it warrants. Joe Girardi, the Yankee skipper, did the same. This is a serious moment in a man’s life, and the Yankees brass treated it that way.
So why were there Budweiser logos behind their heads when they addressed the press?
Cashman discusses CC Sabathia's situation. "CC needs to take care of what CC needs to take care of." pic.twitter.com/md0BBVZ44Y
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) October 5, 2015
MLB constantly works to brand their events, going so far as to make a press conference banner with its own customized logo for one game, the American League Wild Card contest between the Yankees and Houston Astros. And while the ESPN logo is much bigger than the presenting sponsor Budweiser, the beer manufacturer’s mark is way too noticeable to have held a press conference about Sabathia heading to rehab in that setting.
The Yankees should have known better. MLB should have known better. Hell, Cashman should have seen the backdrop as he was walking to the table and asked “who thought this was a good idea?”
The oversight isn’t major and the offense is hardly a fireable one, but it does bring up an issue that Major League Baseball has had for years: the league is absolutely tone deaf when it comes to alcohol.
It’s almost impossible to calculate how much money the beer industry, mainly Budweiser, has spent on MLB advertising over the years, but the relationship has become so lucrative for both parties that it’s become impossible to separate victory in one without a celebratory shower in the other.
Turn down for What?????? #ChampionsTogether https://t.co/pdx8esJNJP
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) October 30, 2014
The official MLB Twitter feed actually sent a tweet last year with the text “What’s left to say? Madison Bumgarner is a stone-cold champ” that included a since-deleted gif image referencing Stone Cold Steve Austin’s famous beer chug. You recall the beer chug, yes?
"Stone Cold" Madison Bumgarner. pic.twitter.com/E0YYH91EAF
— Sean Gentille (@seangentille) October 2, 2014
https://vine.co/v/OK0ilhtdL2B
That chug not only became a regular occurrence in the Giants’ clubhouse last post season, it was openly promoted while media were there to film it. This tweet was sent out by the Giants social media staff.
Wrestlemania31 Tag Team Match???
Madison Bumgarner & @HunterPence vs @WWEDanielBryan & @steveaustinBSR pic.twitter.com/FmVNrIGtOc
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) October 2, 2014
Would we feel differently about the beer chugging today if it were Bumgarner entering rehab, not Sabathia? Would MLB?
Major League Baseball created this environment, turning a once spontaneous celebration by victorious teams into a pre-ordained televised moment, sponsored round after round by Big Beer.
The team that wins the World Series could have as many as five clubhouse parties this year, each more raucous and alcohol-filled than the next. That is, unless Texas wins the title, then they’ll have twice as many parties, one each round with ginger ale so Josh Hamilton can partake, and one without him because alcohol is just that important to baseball celebrations that they can’t go without it even though they have a recovering addict on their team.
Big smiles from your #ALWestChamps!
The Rangers’ celebration Thursday for clinching a return to the playoffs was rather restrained.
It consisted of two toasts.
One with champagne. And one, for Josh Hamilton, with ginger ale.
It was both a nod to past success and a nod to be inclusive of Hamilton, a recovering alcoholic. In 2010 and 2011, the Rangers doused Hamilton in ginger ale rather than champagne after clinchers to make sure he was included. On Thursday, a small red table held a pair of ginger ale bottles and some flutes filled with ginger ale.
That anecdote from Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News is as heartwarming as it is sad. It’s nice that the Rangers’ celebration was reportedly subdued (though the picture above hardly seems subdued at all), but couldn’t the team celebrate without any alcohol? Are we so inclined as a society to rejoice while drinking that it wouldn’t be the same without champagne and beer?
This isn’t about Hamilton, who appreciated the gesture, calling it “really special.” It’s about the baseball culture around alcohol in the clubhouse, and how the league’s sponsorship deals have turned those celebrations into a marketable moment that sends a horribly mixed message to fans about responsible drinking.
Come to think of it, the message isn’t mixed at all. That is baseball’s biggest offense. (I know, it shouldn’t come as a surprise, given a team in the league is nicknamed The Brewers.)
How many of those players celebrating and yukking it up for the cameras got in their cars and drove home later that night? You’re naïve if you think the answer is none.
Don't forget – #STLCards tickets for potential NLCS games at Busch go on sale TODAY at noon: http://t.co/g5p6EXO8eI pic.twitter.com/w1Yfm53P3V
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) October 1, 2015
The St. Louis Cardinals recently celebrated another NL Central division title, the third in as many years and the seventh in the last 12 seasons. With the best record in baseball again this year, the accomplishment provides yet another time to celebrate, and yet for a team with loftier aspirations, hardly one to break out the goggles and party like they won a championship.
I don’t blame the players, in St. Louis or Texas or anywhere. It’s a long season, and they deserve a chance to celebrate with their teammates if such an opportunity is presented. I blame the teams. I blame Major League Baseball.
I blame a culture that equates drinking to excess with victory, that teams flaunt the celebrations in our faces as fans, letting us know it’s a-okay to do the same thing, as long as we’re drinking the appropriately sponsored beverage.
If the teams filled the clubhouse with soda because Coke or Pepsi paid more money this year than Bud, the players would douse themselves in that. If the league banned alcohol from the clubhouses, players wouldn’t stop celebrating and pouring things on each other’s heads. They would just be able to drive home after the celebration was over.
How many of the players in the Cardinals’ clubhouse thought about Josh Hancock during their most recent alcohol-infused celebration?
How many thought about Oscar Tavares?
If the Yankees qualify for the ALDS or ALCS or World Series, how many of those players do we think will grab a bottle and spray their faces off, and how many will sit back and think about their star teammate in rehab and realize that they don’t need alcohol to celebrate a victory, even if baseball is basically begging for the Budweiser photo op?
Maybe the Yankees can put out some ginger ale in Sabathia’s honor. That seems to be enough.
Get a #WorldSeries #Game7-winning hit and yeah, you’re gonna get doused with the good stuff: http://t.co/T8pB1ssrXu pic.twitter.com/cVlobL5OHR
— MLB (@MLB) October 30, 2014
I know this may come off as heavy-handed and anti-alcohol, but I assure you I’m no prude. I simply feel that human when lives are at stake, and Major League Baseball shouldn’t be playing both sides of a serious situation as loosely as it does. This isn’t some ‘won’t someone think of the children’ plea. It’s really not. It’s the adults we should be thinking about.
When Mad Bum chugs half a dozen beers to celebrate making it one round into the playoffs with a promise that he’ll chug more beers the deeper his team gets in the playoffs, it sends a message—brought to you by MLB and its alcohol sponsors—that victory comes best served cold filtered, frost brewed, less filling and up for whatever.
Clubhouse celebrations are plentiful in baseball these days. There will most likely be 19 such celebrations this year, with each sending a message that baseball success is served best with alochol. The Yankees press conference, albeit in a much more subtle way, said the same thing. Sabathia admitted on Monday he has a problem. Hopefully Major League Baseball will do the same soon.
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