Motivated by social, legal, and competitive reasons, MLB players drink less than before. Major League Baseball stars are consuming less and less alcohol, just as is happening in the United States in general.
According to Yahoo Sports in an article written by Jake Mintz, MLB baseball players are drinking less than ever, motivated by the ubiquity of social media, the legality of marijuana and the increasing competition in the major leagues, baseball stars are increasingly choosing not to consume alcohol.
Some emphasized the omnipresence of social media and the discomfort of being intoxicated in public as a public figure. Others focused on the growing legality and availability of marijuana, preferred by many as an alternative to drinking.
A common thread for everyone was the high level of competition in Major League Baseball compared to previous eras. Pitchers have never thrown faster, hitters have never hit faster; sacrificing any advantage for a night of partying is simply not worth it. Whatever the reason, baseball’s abstemious turn reflects a broader social trend.
The Case of the New York Mets
There’s a mini-refrigerator, stocked with beer, tucked underneath a counter in the New York Mets’ clubhouse. More often than not, a laundry cart obstructs the view and use of the cooler.
Anyway, it’s not like it gets much action. After most games, those rows of Millers and Coors beers remain untouched. Occasionally, a particularly thirsty Met will come along and grab a cold one – Pete Alonso, for example, opened a beer after passing Darryl Strawberry in the franchise home run record – but overall, the box of beers is a relic of an era gone by.
In contrast, many New York Mets players return to their lockers to find a small bottle of tart cherry juice. The antioxidant drink – supposedly able to reduce inflammation, aid recovery and improve sleep – has grown in popularity among athletes. Therefore, it is much more common today to see a semi-dressed baseball player drinking cherry juice, a smoothie or a protein shake than to see one drinking a lager, an ale or a fifth of whiskey.
Professional baseball in 2025
This is professional baseball in 2025. ‘You hear the stories, but you can’t do that’ Conversations with more than 30 major league players, coaches and front office staff indicated a definite trend: players are drinking less than ever.
“It’s become a European style of drinking, where it’s like, ‘I’m going to have something to enjoy it,'” one multiple All-Star told Yahoo Sports.
“It’s not to get drunk, go out, fuck around and cause trouble because, like, you can’t do that. You hear the stories, but you can’t do that. You just can’t.”
However, Major League Baseball players seem to be a demographic especially susceptible to excessive alcohol consumption. During the season, players spend half their time on the road, usually away from their families.
They are disproportionately surrounded by other men in their 20s and 30s. Money, for almost all players, is not a barrier. And perhaps most importantly, baseball players have a stressful, high-intensity job that usually ends late at night. Traditionally, this led players to seek a way to relax after games in alcohol and partying.
Baseball’s links to alcohol
Baseball’s ties to alcohol go back a long way. The relationship between the ball and the drink goes back to the early days of the game. Babe Ruth, the sport’s myth-maker, was famous for his beer consumption. Hall of Famer Ty Cobb recalled:
“I’ve seen him at midnight, leaning on the bed, ordering six club sandwiches, a tray of pork knuckles and a jug of beer. He was taking it all in while smoking a big black cigar.”
Legendary New York Yankees outfielder Mickey Mantle, whose career was affected in his thirties by alcohol abuse, admitted that during his heyday, he regularly played hungover.
The 1986 New York Mets
The New York Mets of the 1980s, a raucous bachelor party disguised as a baseball team, drank together before, during and after games. Former slugger and current color commentator Keith Hernandez was famous for having a bucket of ice-cold beers waiting for him after the game so he could enjoy while chatting with reporters.
His teammate and current broadcast partner Ron Darling wrote in his book “Game 7, 1986: Failure and Triumph in the Biggest Game of My Life” that New York Mets hitters used to drink beers in one gulp during games.
“They would time it so that they would bat third or fourth in that inning,” he wrote, “and in their minds, that wave of beer would serve as a start for the amphetamines and take them back to how they felt at the beginning of the game – excited, energetic, ready to play.”
The 1986 New York Mets built a legacy based on that exact concept. So while modern clubhouses are reluctant to party in large, high-profile groups, many teams have adopted a new approach to ensure camaraderie is fostered away from the diamond: group dinners.
He wasn’t just “The Chicken Man” Wade Boggs
The legend of Wade Boggs drinking 100 beers on a single team flight – Boggs insists the number was closer to 70 – has become the most enduring part of his Hall of Fame career.
Derek Jeter Captain America
And in the early 2000s, Derek Jeter developed a reputation for frequenting the Big Apple’s club scene. His social life became public enough that in 2003, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner criticized his star shortstop in the New York Daily News. Later, from the safety of retirement, Derek Jeter confirmed what most already knew: he loved going out.
“Monday was China Club, Tuesday was Spa, Wednesday was Envy, Thursday was Cheetah. The list goes on and on and on,” he told the Wall Street Journal in 2022.
“In those days, there was Page Six, and it was just rumors. Now, it’s a little harder to move around. In those days, you were there and you experienced it and you had fun, or you weren’t there and you heard about it. Now, everyone shares so much.”
“Going out to a bar or club is pretty much nonexistent” Many current players, including some whose careers overlapped with Derek Jeter, echoed the sentiment of The Captain.
A high-profile player
A high-profile player who has been selected to the All-Star Game several times, when asked why players tend not to go out so much, looked in his locker and pulled out his phone. “These,” he insisted. “Everybody’s got these.”
A different, equally prominent All-Star recalled a story of when his team went to a club after winning a playoff series. “We went out as a group, someone put a table somewhere,” he said.
“It was fun because we were all together, but the other people who were around, with their phones, recording us, it was quite annoying.” Which brings us to another trend: “Drinking itself has gone down, but going out to a bar or club is pretty much non-existent.”
That’s particularly true for standout players and those on big-market teams like the Yankees or Dodgers. The days of a larger-than-life personality like Jeter splashing the tabloids with tumultuous nightlife exploits are long gone.
The former New York Mets ace
Former Mets ace Matt Harvey, whose party lifestyle prompted the downfall of a once-promising career, might have been the last star to carry that kind of reputation. Nowadays, going out after dark with a drink in hand just isn’t worth the attention it attracts.
Paul Skenes
In contrast, today’s baseball stars barely give the tabloids anything to work with. When Paul Skenes made an appearance at a bar in Omaha during the College World Series in June, he drank water from a plastic cup.
Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani
Aaron Judge is a homebody with a newborn. The same is true for Shohei Ohtani, who is famous for his dedication to a disciplined sleep routine.
That’s especially true for standout players and those on teams in major markets such as the New York Yankees or the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It’s a very different world from 1998, from David Wells
It’s a very different world from 1998, when, say, David Wells, the burly, beer-loving Yankees pitcher, threw the 15th perfect game in MLB history.
David Wells later admitted in his autobiography, “Perfect I’m Not: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches, and Baseball,” that he achieved the feat “half-drunk, bloodshot eyes, monstrous breath and a hangover pounding in the skull.”
That kind of behavior, in general, is a thing of the past. Most starting pitchers wouldn’t touch a drop of alcohol the night before a start, let alone party all night.
Position players
Position players are more likely to have a drink or two, but playing hungover has become something of a lost art. With one notable exception: when teams clinch a playoff spot in late September and champagne-soaked club substitutes from the night before are squeezed into the lineup so the starters can hope to get over their headache.
The consensus on reducing alcohol consumption
“It’s not about drinking. It’s about being together.” Throughout the league, the consensus is that cutting back on alcohol is generally a positive thing for baseball. However, several veterans of playoff teams lament that building camaraderie in the era of greater sobriety is a much more difficult task. Unrestrained bingeing – the kind often induced by alcohol – can be a powerful, unifying force.
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