Go 2 Guy: Lower M's beer prices could be brewing

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Friday, March 4, 2005

Go 2 Guy: Lower M's beer prices could be brewing

By JIM MOORE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Before leaving spring training today, the Go 2 Guy unveils this shocking headline: Beer prices reduced at Safeco Field!

It's not finalized, but chances are good that fans will be able to buy 12-ounce domestic drafts for $5 this season.

As throwbacks go, I'd prefer a really long, Ichiro-like heave to 1977 when beers were a buck at the Kingdome.

But this is a Shaq-like step in the right direction, showing the Mariners are at least acknowledging concerns from their beer-quaffing backers.

"I'm sensitive to prices," team president Chuck Armstrong said yesterday. "I want (fans) to be happy. I don't want 'em to think we're gouging 'em."

Previously, if you wanted a 12-ouncer at Safeco Field, it was hard to find and available only in a bottle from a vendor. Plus it cost $6.

Armstrong actually consulted the Go 2 Guy for my thoughts, and I immediately endorsed an 81-game promotion of free beer for the masses.

Turning realistic, I suggested a $5 beer because it seemed reasonable for both sides. The Mariners would still make a profit, while fans might be more inclined to pay $5 than $7 or $8, even if it's for a smaller beer.

Besides, by the time you get to the bottom of a 20- or 24-ouncer, the beer's warm and flat.

Armstrong agreed, saying: "The $5 price point is a key one. It's more important than the size."

Aramark doesn't want to introduce a $5 beer because the Safeco Field concessionaire doesn't think it will sell, said Armstrong, who believes otherwise.

Beer prices have not been raised for three years at Safeco Field, but here's the fine print: with the addition of the $5 beer comes likely increases of 25 or 50 cents in 16-ounce, 20-ounce and 24-ounce beers.

It's possible, then, that the highest-priced beer will reach $8.50 this year, or more than a six-pack of Corona at QFC.

Armstrong said those increases are necessary because of higher costs for beer here. As an example, California and Arizona laws allow ballparks to get a volume discount for beer, Armstrong said.

Washington laws preclude a volume discount. Aramark pays the same price for beer at Safeco Field that a local bar would for a single keg, Armstrong said.

This year it might also take more effort to get a beer at any price. A story in Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal said that a $105 million judgment was levied against Aramark in New Jersey after a drunken fan continued to be served during a football game at Giants Stadium in 1999. The fan caused a car accident that paralyzed a 2-year-old girl.

"Our concessionaire said: 'We may be on the hook and you may be on the hook if we have this issue,' " Armstrong said, noting that vendors have a harder time telling if a fan down the row is drunk or not. That probably will lead to fewer beer vendors in the stands.

Armstrong plans to establish beer prices next week. In the meantime, he'd appreciate fan feedback. Send your thoughts via e-mail and I'll pass them along.

CIRILLO REVISITED: Former Mariners third baseman Jeff Cirillo is in Brewers' camp after signing a minor-league contract, trying to resurrect his career.

Once panned, Cirillo has become a favorite of this space. More than a year ago, he lost a bet to the Go 2 Guy and donated $20,000 to Alpine Animal Hospital and Kitsap Humane Society. Also, Cirillo recently gave $2,000 in Nike athletic gear to Dick Francisco's tsunami relief fund. Even more than that, he's a P-I subscriber.

Since signing that multi-million-dollar, four-year deal with the Mariners in 2002, the former .300 hitter has not found his stroke. He will now look for it where he first had it, in Milwaukee, where he strung together five successful seasons from 1995-99.

"I'm taking this as an opportunity, almost like an underdog approach," said Cirillo, who will earn $6.9 million in the final year of his deal. "The last few years, it's been more like a spotlight."

Cirillo, 35, played over the winter in Mexico and talked about a bizarre experience on his second day, driving from Tijuana to Mexicali over the Tijuana Mountains. He looked down and saw 500 cars at the bottom, and thought: "What am I doing here? I'm gonna die in the Tijuana Mountains."

He later learned that the cars were driven over the edge intentionally so their owners could declare them stolen and collect insurance money.

Other than winter ball, Cirillo spent the offseason playing basketball with Microsoft employees at the PRO Club in Redmond. He and his wife, Nancy, and three sons live in Redmond but plan to move to a waterfront home in Medina.

Once highly coveted, Cirillo had to sell himself to earn a job. Still unemployed at the end of January, he called but was rejected by the Diamondbacks and Rockies before hearing a receptive voice from the Brewers.

"I hear the passion in your voice. Yeah, we'll bring you in and see what's going on," Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin told him.

The Brewers have been impressed thus far. "He's a great influence in the clubhouse and on the field," manager Ned Yost said. "He's an ex-All-Star player who knows how to play."

Cirillo is still popular in Milwaukee, where blue-collar fans remember a blue-collar player who could be their starting third baseman again. The job is open, with holdovers Wes Helms and Russell Branyan the most likely candidates, and Cirillo the wild card.

Told it could be a win-win for everybody, Yost said: "It's gonna be a win-win for everybody."

FORE! MARINERS-STYLE: Before the Mariners-Padres golf tournament at Quintero Country Club on Tuesday, Ryan Franklin was on the range hitting long, high draws.

Asked if he could outdrive Bret Boone, who boasts that he can outdrive anyone, Franklin said: "Boone? He's a one-hit wonder."

Meanwhile, Jeff Nelson, whose team won the scramble tourney, was hitting balls and fighting a slice.

Manager Mike Hargrove hits a powerful draw, but I'd imagine some of them turn into violent hooks on occasion. What used to go into the left-field corner for extra bases during his playing career might go out of bounds now.

CEO Howard Lincoln, a 20-handicapper, has taken a few lessons lately. After watching him hit balls, it appears he needs a few more.

Arriving later, Boone whacked some balls, hitting a 1988 taped-Mizuno driver while wearing heel-less shoes that were one step above flip-flops.

"I've got to give everybody else a handicap," he said.

Boone backed his smack, belting one 325 yards. Last seen, his ball was a speck that disappeared from the end of the range.

"Nobody hits 'em there," he said. "Put that one in your column."

SPRING TRAINING THREE DOTS: With all of its food offerings, the concourse of Peoria Stadium resembles the Puyallup Fair, minus the scones. Despite surgeon general warnings, I sampled a fried Twinkie and fried Oreo and decided I should have listened to the surgeon general. ... Mariners legend Alvin Davis, representing a Christian group, Pro Athletes Outreach of Issaquah, was in camp this week. The former first baseman is a minister in Riverside, Calif. Reminiscing about the pop in his bat, Davis, 44, said: "That's all I could do. I couldn't throw, run, or move left or right." ... Bucky Jacobsen's uncooperative knee is preventing him from proving to the Mariners that he, and not Raul Ibanez, should be the DH. "I want to show them what I can do, but as bad as I want to win the job, it's impossible for me to do it at 60-70 percent. When I'll be game-ready, I can't tell you."

P-I columnist Jim Moore can be reached at 206-448-8013 or jimmoore@seattlepi.com. His columns appear Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

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