Heroes get remembered, but legendary stories involving Anheuser-Busch and Major League Baseball never die. During an era where Coors Field exists in Denver, Colorado…the 1950s story involving August “Gussie” Busch Jr., Anheuser-Busch beer brands, and Major League Baseball almost doesn’t feel real. Less than two months after buying the St. Louis Cardinals in 1953, August “Gussie” Busch Jr. announced that the Anheuser-Busch brewery had also purchased Sportsman’s Park…and intended to rename it Budweiser Stadium. This was a bigtime (and certainly ahead of its time) strategic marketing decision, as Anheuser-Busch (which was founded by his grandfather) wouldn’t become the largest brewer in the United States until 1957. So then, why has the St. Louis Cardinals stadium been known as Busch Stadium and not Budweiser Stadium for the last 70+ years? Well…before the day ended, Gussie revised his Sportsman’s Park announcement, and the ballpark would actually be known as Busch Stadium “in memory of the founder and past presidents of Anheuser-Busch.” But what happened that day has long been an object of speculation. And while Ford Frick (the MLB commissioner from 1951 to 1965) supposedly only knew of Gussie Busch’s original “Budweiser Stadium” announcement just before it happened and made no public comment on that day…the press generally gave credit to Ford Frick for the wild day of stadium naming announcements. Why? Back in the 1950s, baseball was rapidly commercializing, and purists of America’s pastime largely opposed corporate ownership. Additionally, while beer has been a quintessential part of the ballpark experience for more than a century, not every stakeholder liked that baseball and beer got cemented together permanently after the Busch family purchased the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s not known if he ever spoke directly to Gussie Busch on the matter that day, but credit was most likely given due to it being widely known that Ford Frick spending considerable time persuading Busch to set up a new corporate entity to govern the sports franchise…essentially acting as a buffer from the appearance of direct corporate control. And with Busch announcing the stadium would be named after the brewery’s most popular product, it undermined all that hard work by Ford Frick (and likely revealed the limits of his reserved temperament). But here’s where you get to really learn about the temperament of the other party involved…as Gussie Busch was strong-willed and known to have a vindictive streak. But the lore surrounding that day (has been passed down generations), as the feud with MLB Commissioner Ford Frick triggered ideation for the creation of Busch Lager, which officially launched two years later in 1955. And though it seems neither the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum nor Anheuser-Busch claim to have any documentation confirming (or denying) the accuracy of this legendary story, there’s no denying that Gussie Busch (who had never sat through an entire nine-inning game) cared only how baseball could better sell beer…effectively changing sports marketing forever. Today, beer is deeply integrated into the Major League Baseball experience, with Budweiser serving as the sport's longest-standing sponsor…becoming the official beer of MLB dating back to 1980.
