“Who here knows what the Volstead Act is? Anyone? Anyone? Oh yes, you there, sir. It seems that you have your hand up. Please tell us what the Volstead Act is.”
“It would be my pleasure. In 1919 Congress passed the Volstead Act to help enforce the Eighteenth Amendment, which was the federal prohibition of alcohol. The Act prohibited the sale and production of alcoholic beverages above 0.5% alcohol content. The Act and the Eighteenth Amendment were in effect until they were repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933.”
“Wow! Your knowledge is quite impressive. Thank you, sir.”
No Alcohol, What?!?
Now that we have that covered, one can imagine that not legally being allowed to produce an alcoholic beverage with an alcohol content above 0.5% would be bad for companies producing alcohol, such as breweries. And it was. Many companies went out of business or had to change their approach. Breweries, in an attempt to stay afloat, started making 0.5% beer. This beer, or tonic as it came to be called, helped breweries such as Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing Company remain viable until the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933.
But, nine months prior to the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Beer and Wine Revenue Act. The Act imposed a federal tax on all alcoholic beverages and allowed the states to regulate the distribution and sale of beer and wine. But big bad Prohibition was still around, so there had to be a limit on the percentage of alcohol in beer. Politicians held important meetings. Much political arguing ensued. And they finally landed on the arbitrary number of 3.2% alcohol by weight. 3.2% beer, which became known as “near beer”, was a nice transitional alcoholic beverage that would allow the consumer to temper their consumption easily.
Near Beer Pitcher
We all know how the Twenty-first Amendment turned out. The country rejoiced and commenced their drinking. Although drinking was legal now, so they didn’t have to hide in speakeasies and run moonshine by the light of the, well, moon.
While high-alcohol beverages were legal again, the matter of alcohol regulations was left up to the states, with some still only allowing 3.2% beer. The legal drinking age was also on a state-by-state basis. In some states, the legal drinking age was 18. But this 18-year-old drinking age came with stipulations in comparison to 21-year-olds. And one of the stipulations was that 18-year-olds were only allowed to purchase and consume near beer. This access to alcohol at a younger age, no matter the alcohol percentage, fueled sales of near beer until the 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act that required all states to enforce a minimum drinking age of 21. Young adults in their late teens were bummed out in 1984. Shoulder tapping increased and sales for near beer dropped significantly.
Aaron Robinson
You must be wondering if this is an article about baseball or about our country’s tumultuous history with intoxicating beverages, and to be totally honest with you it seems to be mostly about alcohol, but the punchline is coming, which is all thanks to a New York Yankees catcher in the 1940s and surprisingly enough it’s not Yogi Berra. The catcher’s name was Aaron Robinson.
Robinson was the Yankees catcher following Hall of Famer, Bill Dickey and prior to Hall of Famer, Yogi Berra. He played in the major leagues for eight seasons. And was a reserve All-Star and World Series winner in 1947 with the Yankees. Although ’47 was the year that Berra gradually took over the starting catcher position and the following season, Robinson was traded to the Chicago White Sox.
But while Robinson was still with the Yanks he coined the phrase “near beer pitcher”. So what does this mean? You’d be hard-pressed to find a pitcher who enjoys low-alcohol beer, so it can’t be that. What Robinson meant, and what only a catcher could have come up with, is a near beer pitcher is a pitcher who constantly pitches to a 3-2 count. And in this day and age when pitch count is everything being a near beer pitcher is much like being near beer, it leaves something to be desired.
Main Photo:
Players Mentioned:
Aaron Robinson, Yogi Berra, Bill Dickey
