Stadium barred carry-ins 60 years ago, too
It didn’t go down so well in city largely employed by breweries
The Milwaukee Brewers’ first season at American Family Field (the stadium formerly known as Miller Park) will open with 25% capacity, no tailgating — and no-carry-ins of food or beverage, the Brewers announced Thursday.
Most fans, just eager to get back to seeing games after a year of no fans in the stands thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, probably won’t squawk much at the ban on bringing in their own beverages. (Pre-pandemic, stadium rules allowed fans to bring in soda, water or juice in factory-sealed plastic bottles — but no alcohol.)
Sixty years ago, the last time Milwaukee’s majorleague ballpark banned carry-in beverages, including beer, the move didn’t go down so smoothly.
When County Stadium, the ballpark built on spec by Milwaukee County to lure a major-league team, first became the home of the Milwaukee Braves in 1953, fans were allowed to bring in their own beverages, including beer — in bottles or cans, even. A possible factor: Breweries, the city’s largest employers at the time, allowed some workers to take home cases of beer.
But by 1961, the beer carry-in policy had left a bad aftertaste for some at the county. The County Board began debating a measure that would bar fans from bringing beer and other bottled goods into the stadium during Braves games. Milwaukee Braves management supported the move; not coincidentally, at the time, concession revenue went to the ballclub, not the county, and a ban on carry-ins would no doubt help sales in the stands.
On March 6, 1961, the County Board approved a sweeping ban barring fans from bringing beer, liquor or soda into County Stadium. The penalty for violating the ordinance: a $5 to $500 fine or up to 90 days in jail.
Some in Milwaukee refused to take the carry-in ban lying down. A group calling itself the Committee for Beverage Carry-Ins at County Stadium launched “Operation Six-Pack,” a campaign to repeal the ordinance. Within a couple of weeks, organizers had collected 87,000 signatures calling for repeal.
Efforts to get a temporary restraining order to halt enacting the ordinance failed, as did an attempt to get the County Board to repeal it. It didn’t help, The Milwaukee Journal reported on April 20, 1961, that members of “Operation Six-Pack” reportedly had taken to calling county supervisors “at all hours of the night” to protest the ban.
In June, Circuit Judge Ronold A. Dreschler upheld the ban, saying: “The necessity of eliminating the danger (of rowdy fans throwing bottles onto the field and in the stands) … overrides the difference in costs of the beverages.”
Dreschler also ruled, according to The Journal’s June 19 story, “that carrying in alcoholic beverages was not an inherent right of baseball fans.” (Cleary, the judge had never been tailgating.)
The carry-in ban could have been a factor in the Braves’ dramatic attendance decline in 1961, a 26% drop, to 1.1 million fans. But don’t rule out that the team fell from second place in 1960 to fourth in the eightteam National League in 1961.
At the start of the 1962 season, with fans still stewing over the carry-in ban, the Braves sought a boost in the price of beer they were selling inside County Stadium — from 30 cents to 35 cents for a 12-ounce bottle of Milwaukee-brewed beer. William Eberle, Braves business manager said that the ballclub, if it got the price increase, wouldn’t object to a repeal of the carry-in ban. Besides, the team suggested, the ban was hurting attendance.
That just made the County Board angrier. “How can the Braves have the gall to come in and make a statement like that when they appeared time after time to oppose bringing in beer?” County Supervisor Marty Larsen shouted, according to a story on the meeting in the April 6, 1962, Milwaukee Journal. “And you call that good public relations.”
The County Board rejected the Braves’ nickel-abeer increase, but the door had been opened. On June 5, 1962, the County Board finally relented, and repealed the carry-in ban.
To celebrate, the Committee for Beverage Carry-Ins at County Stadium staged a victory party for repeal, offering fans a free bus ride to the ballpark — and a six-pack of beer — for the Braves’ return to Milwaukee on June 8.
Unfortunately, the weather ruined the party. Fewer than 2,500 people showed up to see the Braves play the Pirates while hoisting their own beer, but the game was rained out.
Carry-ins were allowed for the rest of the Braves’ stay in Milwaukee. But by the time the Milwaukee Brewers arrived in 1970, the carry-in ban was back in effect.
Contact Chris Foran at chris.foran@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @cforan12.