It’s a common theme at baseball games around the country to enjoy a beer while watching nine innings of baseball on a summer day. Now, Clemson head coach Erik Bakich wants to make that a reality at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Bakich wanted to make games more interactive for fans. Since Banana Ball last November and the new partnership with equipment sponsor Absolutely Ridiculous, the next addition has been announced: beer at baseball games.
“We’re going to be selling beer this year, which is huge. We want the rowdy crowd, we want the beer-drinking crowd, we want people to come out here and have a glass and the opposing pitchers are going to have to get warm right in front of that section,” Bakich said.
With a couple of changes that will see a new-look ballpark in 2025, the stadium will have a beer garden area that is standing room only right above the opposing team’s bullpen. The visitor bullpen was moved along the left field line to allow this idea to come to fruition. Now, spectators can enjoy a glass of beer while distracting opposing pitchers from warming up, adding more of a home-field advantage when playing in Clemson.
“I’m excited to see how that looks,” Bakich said.
“Forever and ever it seemed like opposing teams, they might’ve had massage tables over there, they were fed grapes and had olive branches,” Bakich said about the change. “I mean, it was the most comfortable, gigantic bullpen, the easiest place to be for an opposing pitcher.”
“We went 180 from that and hopefully make it one of the toughest places to be an opposing pitcher. Not much room in that whole area,” Bakich added.
Beer and alcoholic beverages are not sold publicly at Clemson sporting events — only for luxury suites in Memorial Stadium and Littlejohn Coliseum. The move to publicly sell beer could be the first step to allowing this to happen across all venues. A positive review at the end of the season could mean a potential opportunity for future endeavors.
The new renovations also include the addition of synthetic turf on the field and in the foul territory areas. Bakich decided to make the change due to the high traffic that occurs on the grass area during games, which wears it out throughout the season. The Clemson head coach also said that the turf addition would allow for more opportunities to train in the given area — something that the Tigers couldn’t do before in practice.
“We can take ground balls, we can do speed and agility, we can do whatever,” Bakich said. “So there’s a functionality from a more training rep standpoint.”
Bakich turned down making the whole field turf, leaving the field of play grass. He said that he would never do that, as it would ruin the traditional feel that the school provides in different aspects.
Clemson’s home opener will be against Presbyterian on Feb. 19. Clemson baseball is looking for rowdy this season — perhaps adding more of the crowd into games can help the team get back to the College World Series for the first time since 2010 in the 2025 season.
