Beer-Drinking Legend Wade Boggs Is Pabst Blue Ribbon’s Perfect Pitchman

The MLB Hall of Famer is the face of the brand's covert #BoggsisBlue campaign

Ex-Boston Red Sox player Wade Boggs.
Did Wade Boggs really drink 73 beers? He says he did.
Adam Glanzman/Getty

In what is certainly a covert marketing campaign for Pabst Blue Ribbon, Hall of Fame baseball player Wade Boggs, who once allegedly drank 73 beers, is claiming he is the inspiration behind PBR’s “Cool Blue” mascot.

Per Boggs, Pabst stole his identity and has been using it to sell suds for decades. In a video exposé on YouTube, Boggs uses statistics to support his claim.

Among them:

  • In 1983 Boggs went 18-for-44 against PBR’s hometown of Milwaukee; the brand was founded in 1844.
  • Boggs is a 12-time All-Star; Pabst Blue Ribbon comes in 12-ounce cans.
  • During his career in Boston, Boggs had 47 triples; Pabst Blue Ribbon’s alcohol content is 4.7%. 

“Pabst Blue Ribbon owes me, and fans across the nation, the truth, Boggs is Blue” Boggs said in a release. “I’m after justice, and nothing tastes better with it than an ice-cold PBR. This is why I’m calling on Pabst to meet my demands, admit the truth, and serve up some beers in Cool Blue’s honor to fans everywhere.”

The release asks fans to use the hashtag #BoggsisBlue and directs them to a website of the same name that has a list of Boggs’s demands.

1. Pabst must admit the truth, that Boggs is Blue
2. Create the Boggs Discount for my fans: $12 Off for a 12x All-Star
3. Name a brewery after me
4. Print my face on bottles
5. Publish my world famous Boggs chicken recipe
6. Make me the official Pabst Blue Ribbon spokesperson

Even though the brand is publicly denying that Boggs is Blue, they have certainly already met his final demand as the whole stunt is a clever marketing campaign. Boggs is the perfect person for it because, as previously mentioned, he drank 73 beers over the course of a seven-hour cross-country flight to California. Even more impressive, he didn’t stop there and claims to have consumed 34 more beers with his teammates after landing to end his night having downed 107 brewskies. Then, the following day, he went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles.

It sounds too good (or bad) to be true, but we want to believe.

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