
Wednesday’s ad is for Narragansett, from some time in the late 1950s or early 1960s, if I had to guess. I base that on other ads which during that time period seem to show a wider range of beer glasses than later ads.

By Jay Brooks
By Jay Brooks
By Jay Brooks

Monday’s ad is for Pabst, from some time in the 1940s, based on the suit the men are wearing at a baseball game. Apparently if you drink Pabst, and more importantly, bring some home for your wife, you’ll get out of the doghouse and she’ll forget all about being late because you went to a baseball double header. Too bad real life doesn’t work that way.

By Jay Brooks

Sunday’s ad is by the United Brewers Industrial Foundation, from 194. It was part of their award-winning “Morale is a Lot of Little Things” campaign. This one, “Remember The Time We Taught Mary How To Bat?,” seems a bit insensitive by today’s standards, but was attempting, at least, to remind people why we were fighting World War 2, with the aim of building up morale both at home and in the various theatres of war.

By Jay Brooks
By Jay Brooks

Friday’s ad is for Ballantine, from around 1950. The ad features Pittsburgh Pirate right fielder Roberto Clemente, so it must have been before 1973, since Clemente died in a plane crash while delivering aid to victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua on December 31, 1972. I still have one of his baseball cards from when I was a kid. If I had to guess, I’d say the ad is not an ad per se, but more likely was part of a baseball program sold at the stadium, except that at second glance the text is in Spanish, saying “Roberto Clemente at bat for Ballantine beer.”

By Jay Brooks

Thursday’s ad is for Narragansett, from 1950. The black and white ad shows a woman staring back at the viewer, with a baseball game on the television behind her. The scene on television almost looks the same as the billboard from yesterday, with a player sliding into home. The ad also uses their famous “Hi, Neighbor! Have a ‘Gansett” tagline.

By Jay Brooks
By Jay Brooks
By Jay Brooks

Monday’s ad is for Rheingold Beer, from 1942. With the opening day of the 2014 baseball season taking place for most teams today (not including the boondoggle to Australia and one game yesterday) I thought this week I’d feature ads with a baseball theme. Today’s ad features Leo “The Lip” Durocher, who at this time was the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

