OT - Does anyone know what happens to the champagne when a team doesn't clinch?

by Mike Vails Evil Twin on Oct 23, 2009 3:56 PM CDT Comment 49 comments

While watching the Angels/Yankees game last night, I got to wondering about all the cases of champagne waiting in the visitors' clubhouse and what happened to them after the Yankees lost. Shipping them all to New York would be expensive and a waste of the Steinbrenner family's money (not that I care), so I'm inclined to believe they just returned it where they bought it. However, that seems like it would be a raw deal for the liquor distributor. Since this has happened to a lot of teams, does anyone know what happens in those situations? It's not all that important, but it's an interesting little aspect of the post-season I've never heard discussed anywhere. Thanks!

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I believe they give it to starving orphans

by Wreckard on Oct 23, 2009 4:06 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

The Dodgers took theirs cross country

LA to Pittsburgh to San Diego back to LA before they opened it. They clinched a week earlier but waited till they won the
NL West to celebrate and a five game losing streak made them wait a while. I don’t get the idea they would even care or know if it tasted flat.

"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either Jim

by Doggie Stalker on Oct 23, 2009 4:08 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That must have cost a fortune!

I wonder how much they’ll raise ticket prices next year to pay for all the shipping.

And while the players might not notice flat champagne, it would take a lot of the pop out of the locker room celebration. Actually, that might be kind of funny to see.

by Mike Vails Evil Twin on Oct 23, 2009 4:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

In 2003, the Marlins didn't bring any champagne

when the NLCS came back to Chicago. They ended up drinking the Cubs’ champagne for their celebration.

Hey, it's a new century!

by cowsarecool220 on Oct 23, 2009 4:18 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Sigh.

Maybe the Angels can have the Yankees’ champagne when they win games six and seven. Incidentally, does any of that champagne actually get consumed? Most of it appears to get sprayed all over the clubhouse.

FWIW, the Angels are in the exact position the Marlins were in, in 2003 — down 3-1, won game 5 at home, facing games 6 and 7 on the road vs. tough pitching.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al on Oct 23, 2009 4:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I presume it's not vintage Dom Perignon

that gets sprayed all over the locker room.

by ChipSet on Oct 24, 2009 11:32 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yankees had a few dozen cases of Korbel

they had to crate back to NYC, apparently.

by JFCubFan on Oct 24, 2009 12:09 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Korbel???

Jeez, that’s not even champagne! Not that it matters much under the circumstances, but with a budget like theirs you’d think they’d at least get something French.

"I tried to let Ryan know that [jumping over the dugout railing] was a thing that maybe just athletes should stick to." -- Ted Lilly, 28 July 2009

by CaughtInTheVines on Oct 24, 2009 1:13 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Meh, screw regional protectionism.

by aldimond on Oct 28, 2009 10:35 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Perhaps that is how the Cubs traded Hee Sop Choi for Lee ?

That Hendry is one tough negotiator . You want some champagne ? Sure we have some nice stuff available we just want your 1st baseman for our 1st baseman"

"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either Jim

by Doggie Stalker on Oct 23, 2009 4:34 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sort of a riff on "we'll eat their lunch"

Yes – sigh.

by ChipSet on Oct 24, 2009 11:30 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Really?

That makes that series even worse now.

"This season has been everything most of us feared it would be[.]"

Mike Rutherford, Card Chronicle

http://www.cardchronicle.com/

by Villeslgr on Oct 27, 2009 10:50 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wasn't there a Bob Costas story in the Ken Burns' Baseball documentary?

Where Costas was in the lockeroom with all the champagne ready when the game shifted and they took all the champagne out in seconds?

Inspector #23 certifies that the above post is sarcasm free, most certainly not what she said, and chock full of intangibles, although regressing to the intangible mean, as you'd expect.

by DGU on Oct 23, 2009 4:51 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That was, IIRC....

… the 1986 Red Sox, who were one strike from victory in game six.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al on Oct 23, 2009 4:52 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

please don't remind me.

However, that was also the night my niece was born, which took all the pain away (and then some).

Cubs Supreme in Baseball World.

by Emelie on Oct 26, 2009 6:24 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is my favorite question to ever be posted on this site

Maybe they donate it to the nearest high school party

by murphymj on Oct 23, 2009 8:53 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

hahs

by bbates6 on Oct 23, 2009 9:18 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Heard at the party soon after this:

                                                          ANONYMOUS TEEN GIRL:
                                 (to her girlfriend, who is noticeably less drunk than her)
                                  “Omigod…omigod…this cham…paign iz sooooo good!”
                                                                      (stumbles)
                          “You are s-sssoo wasted. Iss warm in here. Izzit warm in here?”
                                                                    (removes top)

I’ve seen it a million times.

"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things." ~Winston Churchill

by Goodie1969 on Oct 23, 2009 9:36 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

haha

by bbates6 on Oct 23, 2009 9:18 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

They still get the bottles...

…except, they take ’em home and drink them over the next week… lost in depression for losing the big game…

When they sober up, that is when they start training for the next season…

by TheHawkRules on Oct 24, 2009 12:00 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

What I think is funny is know is

If Rick Porcello would have been the winning pitcher in the one game playoff, and since he’s only 20, he couldn’t celebrate with the champagne.

"That pitch wasn’t down and in, that pitch was down and up." Tim McCarver

by wrigleyrocker12 on Oct 24, 2009 7:58 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Like they card in the clubhouse

by Josh77 on Oct 24, 2009 1:08 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maddux looked about 16 when he first came up

and Sutcliff would ALWAYS make him go out for beer or go to the bar to order drinks just to watch him endessly carded.
( he was 20 his first month in the majors but drinking age was 18 then).

"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either Jim

by Doggie Stalker on Oct 24, 2009 2:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

He didn't look 16.

He looked about 12:

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al on Oct 24, 2009 3:36 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

And that's probably why he did this...

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al on Oct 24, 2009 3:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Don Pedro, is that you?

"When you're going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill

by vonde6 on Oct 26, 2009 1:01 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

or

“Hello. My Name Is Inigo Montoya. You Killed My Father. Prepare to Die”

"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either Jim

by Doggie Stalker on Oct 26, 2009 1:28 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That has to be it.

That movie came out the same year that card did.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al on Oct 26, 2009 1:36 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

"Have fun winning multiple Cy Young awards!"

Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.

by dat cubfan daver on Oct 26, 2009 3:38 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

And I thought Colvin looked young!

Wow. He looks like he should be delivering pizza to your door.

"Fasten those seatbelts"-Pat Hughes

by katie casey on Oct 24, 2009 5:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Link not working for me but heck I have a "baby" Maddux on my computer anyway.

"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either Jim

by Doggie Stalker on Oct 24, 2009 5:53 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Strange.

I definitely posted that “baby” photo, the same one you have. Don’t understand why it doesn’t show now. This should work better:

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al on Oct 24, 2009 7:59 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Man alive

It looks nothing like him.

"Repetition is only good when you've been winning." - Valet

by propheteer on Oct 27, 2009 11:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, sure it does.

… when he was 18 years old.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al on Oct 28, 2009 7:53 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

For those of old enough to remember it does

More hair perhaps but trust me he was skinny little runt who looked like a HS student at best when he came up.

"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either Jim

by Doggie Stalker on Oct 28, 2009 9:22 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was changed to 21 in 1980 -- Maddux was 14.

I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson

by Shanghai Badger on Oct 24, 2009 9:57 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was not changed nationally till 1988

It had been gradually raised state in the early 80s. I went to college in CT and I could legally drink there even if I was not 21 through at least 83. It is likely that most of the places Maddux and Cubs were in in 1987 ( and the first two weeks of the 88 season as he would have turned 21 on April 14 of that year) did have 21 year old drinking age. I am shocked that he would broken the law like that. Here is a link to the history of drinking age laws.
http://www.why21.org/history/

"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either Jim

by Doggie Stalker on Oct 24, 2009 10:18 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

One of my favorite underage Cub anecdotes

In a VineLine interview, I think in January 1999, Kerry Wood mentioned how he didn’t go to bars (yeah, right). We were going to have him sign it at Kitty O’Sheas during the Cub Convention, where he was drinking . . . he still was 20 at the time. Terry Adams was with him, being a real prick . . . Dorothy the sainted season ticket holder was acting like she was the bomb, too. Cracks me up – if you don’t want attention, don’t go to the bar in the hotel where 10,000 fans are staying.

I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson

by Shanghai Badger on Oct 25, 2009 9:48 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

BURRRRRRRRP

Yes, I know where it goes.

by Josh77 on Oct 24, 2009 1:07 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

It goes to those less fortunate

along with the T-Shirts and caps that said “2007 Chicago Bears Super Bowl Champions.”

by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Oct 24, 2009 1:20 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

on that note

i saw a man in a “Chicago Cubs 2003 NL Champions” t shirt at a game this season. must have bought that shirt in about the 6th inning of game 6

by murphymj on Oct 24, 2009 2:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why would anyone want that?

I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson

by Shanghai Badger on Oct 24, 2009 9:57 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well it would be valuable but I would not wear it.

Kind of like the Tribune’s DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN headline.

"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either Jim

by Doggie Stalker on Oct 24, 2009 10:19 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That isn't depressing, though

Unless you are Dewey.

I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson

by Shanghai Badger on Oct 25, 2009 9:48 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

must have been a bootleg

I remember reading that people were begging the vendors to sell them “NL Champs” shirts in the middle of Game 6, but they weren’t allowed to.

"That’s what I love about my skip, man. He’ll tell you that you suck...I know I suck. We know we suck...Yeah, we suck. But we’ll see who sucks at the end."
- Gary Sheffield

by DrGalazkiewicz on Oct 29, 2009 11:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs