Coca-Cola and baseball

Nap Lajoie looks into the stands in an early Coke ad from 1907.

Soft drink company Coca-Cola has had a long association with major league baseball in North America. In the early 20th Century, advertisements for Coca-Cola featured major league stars of the day (Coca-Cola started producing ads featuring famous major league baseball players in about 1903 or 1907 [sources vary]). The company was arguably the first to use baseball players to promote their product in an advertising campaign.

The first general "circular arrow" ads for Coke appeared in 1905, with examples of these types of ads featuring baseball players shown (see image gallery below for examples from 1910 to 1915). These promotional ads were featured in American newspapers and magazines from across the country. The ads advise that "Whenever you see an Arrow, think of Coca-Cola."

Other ads of the era featured generic baseball players and associated "The Great National Drink at the Great National Game" with thirsty fans refreshing themselves with the Coca-Cola during and after a game.

Of note, Ty Cobb was a fan of Coca-Cola both on and off the field. He held over 20,000 shares of Coca-Cola Company stock and owned several Coca-Cola bottling plants during his lifetime.

Pepsi is now an official sponsor for the MLB in America, but Coke continues its association with professional baseball in Canada as the official soft drink of the Toronto Blue Jays. Coca-Cola does have ties with Minor League Baseball, having naming rights to Coca-Cola Park and Coca-Cola Field.

Image gallery

Walter Johnson ad from 1914.

George Stallings ad from 1915.

Nixey Callahan ad from 1914.

George Mullin ad from 1910.

Jack O'Connor ad from 1910.

Sources

• Mark Pendergrast: For God, Country and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company that Makes it Perseus Books, New York NY, 2000 (originally published in 1993). ISBN 978-0465054688 [1]
• Various newspapers via the Library of Congress Chronicling America website (click on each image for details).
• Coca-Cola Company website [2], Coca-Cola & Sports: A Century of teamwork, 2014
• 125 years of sharing happiness, promotional booklet, 2011 The Coca-Cola Company
• William M. Simons, Alvin L. Hall (editors): The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, 2002, McFarland, 2003, ISBN 0786481714, [3]]