Baseball and beer are inseparable symbols of summer fun. That relationship, however, is evolving at the grassroots level.
 
Vic Christopher saw it happening when he landed in Troy, N.Y., in 2004 to take a job in the front office of the Tri City Valleycats, a short-season minor league team in the New York-Penn League. His mission as the new assistant general manager? Improve the fan experience at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.
 
“Very high on my to-do list was making the minor league experience feel local,” he says. “Minor league baseball is all about your community. Anything you can do to reinforce that message you need to make happen.”
 
Christopher knew craft beer was one way to do it. He had previously worked for another minor league team, the Brooklyn Cyclones, which had tremendous success selling beers from Brooklyn Brewery.
 
“I wanted to create a similar type of partnership up here when I took on the job,” says Christopher.
 
He had an ideal partner. Troy is home to one of the oldest craft breweries in the Capital Region surrounding Albany, Brown’s Brewing Company. It opened in an old downtown warehouse in 1993 and had built a loyal following. In 2005, Brown’s started pouring its beers from its own little kiosk at the Joe.
 
“I think everyone underestimated how popular the beer would be early on,” says Christopher. “But our fans are proud of the region here, and the sentiment is that you want to buy Brown’s because it’s local. If minor league teams have a local brewery in their area, I think it makes a lot of sense to bring them in.”
 
The relationship has been just as good for Brown’s.
 
“We expanded distribution [at the ballpark] because how much our beer sold at the games,” says Gregg Stacy, Brown’s vice president, director of marketing & sales. “Even after adding a second bar this year, we’ll sell out of beer within a day. Our brewers will have to take beer up there on a Sunday because they’ll blow through everything on Friday and Saturday.”
 
And Stacy means everything. One of the most interesting results of their arrangement is the amount of heavier beers the Brown’s ballpark crew is able to sell no matter how hot and muggy it may get.
 
“Last year, our number-one seller was our brown ale,” says Stacy. “Our cherry raspberry ale is another good one. It’s made with a dark roasted malt, so you don’t necessarily equate that beer to a hot summer night, either.”
 
The bottom line is that the fans immediately took to Brown’s beer. And for many of them, that first plastic cup of hoppy goodness was their intro to craft beer. Minor league baseball expanded their palate.
 
The Valleycats have already seized on that. On July 24, the Joe hosted the first-annual Capital Region Craft Brewers Festival, which drew about 1,000 people. Christopher said 16 breweries from the upper Hudson Valley and Vermont participated. He and Matt Callahan, the Valleycats’ business development manager and coordinator of the Festival, are already eying expansion next year.
 
And as for Brown’s, tapping into the local vibe of minor league baseball has been a hit. Next summer, they hope to sell their beer at venerable Damaschke Field, home of the Oneonta Tigers.
 
The beer may not be quite as local. Oneonta is an hour-and-a-half away from Troy. But the fans of minor league baseball have spoken loud and clear. They prefer locally brewed craft beer with their local brand of baseball.
 

THE STARTING NINE
Nine other minor league teams currently selling beer from a local craft brewery:
 
Arkansas Travelers, Little Rock, Ark. ... Diamond Bear Brewing Co.

Asheville Tourists, Asheville, N.C. ... French Broad Brewing Co.

Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Colorado Springs, Colo. ... Bristol Brewing Company

Eugene Emeralds, Eugene, Ore. ... Hop Valley Brewing Company

Indianapolis Indians, Indianapolis, Ind. ... Oaken Barrel Brewing Company

Omaha Royals, Omaha, Neb. ... Lucky Bucket Brewing

Portland Sea Dogs, Portland, Me. ... Shipyard Brewing Company

Reno Aces, Reno, Nev. ... Buckbean Brewing Company

West Michigan Whitecaps, Grand Rapids, Mich. ... Founders Brewing Co.

-- by Chris Gigley

Designated Driver is a new Beer Connoisseur travel blog by Chris Gigley, who drinks Natty Greene's Southern Pale Ale at his home field, NewBridge Bank Park in Greensboro, N.C. Check out Chris’s blog at gigley.wordpress.com, and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/cgigley.