EXCLUSIVE: Orioles’ Superman returns.
Dressed in an orange and black jersey and jacket, David Walton carried a garbage bag over his shoulder, slung like Santa’s bag of toys. “All right, here we go,” he said, taking in a deep breath just outside Camden Yards. “Into the fire.”
As he entered the packed bar, a patio of people spilling out toward the street, Walton looked around for a discreet place to complete his transformation. Superman had a phone booth; Walton had the second-floor fire escape of Section 771. He pulled from the trash bag an enormous, winking foam head. There would be no missing Mr. Boh.
No one has ever been more popular than the Natty Boh man in a crowd of drunk people on opening day. Not Mickey Mouse nor Santa himself could have instantly engendered so much goodwill among the masses. Walton was able to walk no more than a single step before being stopped for a photo, handshake or both, akin to a politician at a meet and greet or a bride at a wedding. When he finally got back outside, women beckoned him to come dance; one began twerking against him until Mr. Boh, ever the gentleman, backed away and offered a good-natured shoulder pat instead.
At an earlier stop, people “were clamoring for him like they were clamoring for Beyoncé,” said Elise Porcelli, clawing at the air to demonstrate. Porcelli, a marketing consultant, was acting as Mr. Boh’s “handler” for the day, following him through the sea of people with a backpack full of Natty Boh koozies, which she passed out to eager, outstretched hands.
Moving forward, Baltimoreans can expect to see a lot more of Mr. Boh — and National Bohemian, the beer he has represented since the 1930s. In efforts to capitalize on the built-in affection for Boh in the region, parent company Pabst Brewing Co. has expanded the marketing and sales team devoted to the brew, which was created in Baltimore but left the area in the 1990s. The announcement this week that Boh would be sold at Camden Yards for the first time in nearly a decade was just the beginning.
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“It’s about not only just showing up in the stadium; it’s about showing up in and around the stadium,” said Emily Hoyle, senior marketing director for Pabst, who is based out of the company’s headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. “Mr. Boh is really the emblem of Baltimore pride.”
Hoyle’s portfolio includes other “local legends” — regional beers with strong local ties — including Old Style in Chicago, Stroh’s beer in Detroit and Stag beer in St. Louis. But there’s nothing quite like Boh, and especially the man who represents it. “No one else has a Mr. Boh like Natty Boh,” she said.
The beer industry has been in a slump for years, in part because there are so many alternatives available, such as hard seltzers and canned cocktails, and in part because drinking rates are down nationally. But Natty Boh is unique, drawing drinkers from a variety of ages and backgrounds. “They could be a craft beer drinker; they could be a spirits drinker,” said Pabst Senior District Sales Manager Jeremy Knapp, who lives in in Bel Air.
Boh drinkers do have one thing in common, though: location. Charm City makes up 80% of sales, and the beer is sold only in a few states surrounding Maryland.
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