My son and I just got back from a baseball road trip, Cleveland on Saturday afternoon and Pittsburgh on Sunday. (As an aside, this Paul Skenes looks like he just might amount to something.) We got to Progressive early, and while strolling through the concourse saw a long line of Guardians fans queued up for I knew not what. Turns out you could buy $2 pints of Miller Lite until first pitch. My Econ major boy tells me that a dime in 1974 would get you about 65 cents worth of 2024 beer, so the deal was not as good, and it didn’t last long. It still made me laugh that out of the 25 parks we’ve visited over the years, we didn’t find cut-rate beer at a baseball game until we reached Cleveland.
They are a proud people with strong ties to their past. Lesser cities would have stopped selling heavily-discounted beer. Not Cleveland. "No, this is who we are. Ready the next keg." It's kind of inspiring.
Thanks Bill! He and a local historian, George Castle, co-wrote a history of the 1969 season a few years ago. It is a DEEP dive, but for someone who has fond memories of the era (or someone who was intensely researching the period for "work,") it's kind of a gem. I like reading memoir formats about specific periods/moments versus biographies that cover the whole lifetime.
Happy 50th anniversary! The story that started it all! Love this perspective on it.
Maria, are you Paul’s better half or is your last name just a coincidence?
Hi Melissa! I am Paul's other half but which one of us is better is debatable! :) He's certainly the better storyteller!
Great stuff.
My son and I just got back from a baseball road trip, Cleveland on Saturday afternoon and Pittsburgh on Sunday. (As an aside, this Paul Skenes looks like he just might amount to something.) We got to Progressive early, and while strolling through the concourse saw a long line of Guardians fans queued up for I knew not what. Turns out you could buy $2 pints of Miller Lite until first pitch. My Econ major boy tells me that a dime in 1974 would get you about 65 cents worth of 2024 beer, so the deal was not as good, and it didn’t last long. It still made me laugh that out of the 25 parks we’ve visited over the years, we didn’t find cut-rate beer at a baseball game until we reached Cleveland.
They are a proud people with strong ties to their past. Lesser cities would have stopped selling heavily-discounted beer. Not Cleveland. "No, this is who we are. Ready the next keg." It's kind of inspiring.
Nice alternate storytelling, Paul! I was a big Fergie Jenkins fan as a youngster in Chicago in the late 1960's and early 1970's.
Thanks Bill! He and a local historian, George Castle, co-wrote a history of the 1969 season a few years ago. It is a DEEP dive, but for someone who has fond memories of the era (or someone who was intensely researching the period for "work,") it's kind of a gem. I like reading memoir formats about specific periods/moments versus biographies that cover the whole lifetime.
My that was fun!!! Still unsure why Indians became the Guardians…. really??? One of the dumbest things Nixon ever did… Putz!