Alco-Hall of Fame: Class of 2012

Last year we inducted 6 members onto the Alco-Hall of Fame for it's inugural class.  This year we elected 4 men and 1 team of legendary boozers.  Here is the Alco-Hall of Fame Class of 2012:

Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. - “Billy” b.1928-d.1989

Drinking buddies with Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and many other teammates along with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. Got into a massive brawl with teammates (including Mantle, Ford and Yogi Berra) sticking up for Sammy Davis at The Copacabana after somebody was yelling racial slurs at Sammy.  Billy will go down in advertising history as one of the pitchmen for the legendary “tastes great/less filling” Miller Lite ads of the 1970’s. He died on Christmas day driving drunk near his home in Binghamton, NY.

Earnest Hemmingway- “Papa” b. 1899-d.1961

Notorious for making fun of his fellow writers who sought help with their alcoholism, Hemmingway said to F. Scott Fitzgerald (After Scott told Earnest that “alcohol bested him”) “Take your balls and throw them in the sea-If you have any balls left.” It was once said that "His drinking would have killed a less tough man."  Drank in the hospital after a WWI injury, moved back to Europe during prohibition just to drink, drank on the front line of WWII when he was covering it, drank while on Safari in Africa, drank in Cuba while writing some of his best known works, created a drink while be drunk in Florida (A Papa Doble is a Daiquiri with double the amount of rum and none of the sugar) and spent some of the last years of his life drinking on his yacht while sailing the Caribbean.  Known as a messy drunk, he was told by a doctor to stop drinking to save his liver, advice he ignored. He drank to alleviate pain from a bunch of random injuries (it’s suspected that most were caused while drunk) and penned most of his greatest works under the influence (he supposedly wrote standing with a pen in one hand and a drink in the other). He died from a self inflicted gunshot wound after a forced 3 month abstinence from alcohol.

Herbert Walton Gleason Jr. - "Jackie" b.1916-d.1987

Raised by a "Hard working, hard drinking" Father (that left the family when Jackie was just 10) and an "I drink because I buried my child" Mother (who fell further in the bottle when Jackie's old man left), Jackie was born with booze in his blood.  Jackie's father would take him to see the pictures on Saturday, but only after a stop at the speakeasy.  It was on these Saturdays where Jackie fell in love with alcohol and the stage.  On of Jackie's first gigs gave him free booze and it was here that he learned people laughed when he got drunk.  Only problem was Jackie never remembered his act, because he was blacked out, but he did entertain the crowd.  Once Jackie started making some money he felt it was his duty to pick up tabs and buy rounds.  And his daily routine of shooting scenes, going directly to the bar, closing the bar, going to after hour parties and showing up on time the next day were legendary.  He created many drunkard roles on "Cavalcade of Stars" including Joe the Bartender, Rum Dum and Reginald Van Gleason III, who loved booze and the high life.  Drank on set, in front of the camera, on The Jackie Gleason Show.  A lover of drink, food and smoke (he smoked close to 5 packs of cigarettes a day) he also wrote some original songs and released a few albums.

Oliver Reed - "Ollie" b.1938-d.1999

He got drunk, got naked and wrestled a dude on the beach in front of a fire in the movie Women In Love and no one questioned his manhood.  That's how much of a tough guy Reed was.  Got into a bar fight that resulted in 63 stitches in his twenties, beat Lee Marvin in a drinking contest, and once threw up on Steve McQueen after an all night pub crawl.  Almost fought Letterman when he wouldn't stop asking questions about his drinking, had a glass of whiskey poured over his head by Shelly Winters on Carson, and tried to kiss a feminist writer on an English TV show after saying "C'mon big tits, give us a kiss" - all while being stinking drunk.  There are also tales of him and 36 friends drinking 60 gallons of beer, 32 bottles of Scotch, 17 bottles of Gin, 4 crates of wine and a bottle of Babycham in one sitting.  He claims he drank 106 pints over two days before marrying his wife.  Died at 61 of a heart attack one day after downing 3 bottles of Rum.  To see some of his antics YouTube this dude.

The 1986 New York  Mets

Pitcher Bobby Ojeda said "We were throwbacks.  We were gimmie a steak, gimmie a beer, gimmie a smoke and get the fuck outta our way.”  To me baseball and booze goes hand and hand and the 1986 Mets would have agreed.  Pretty much the whole 25 man roster, excluding "The Kid" Gary Carter who didn't partake much in the drinking, loved to party down.  They had a fridge stocked with booze in the clubhouse and often times the trainer would come into the locker room for a day game after a night game to find half a dozen players sleeping face down on the floor with crushed beer cans surrounding them.  The trainer would wake them, give 'em a B12 shot, a couple of aspirin, a couple of cigarettes, a drink or six and send to the shower to get ready for first pitch.  They were also known for drinking at a working class bar in Queens named Finn MaCools where the owner once joked that the Mets singlehandedly keep him in business in 86'.  All this is enough to make them Alco-All Star's.  What gives these guys legendary status is the plane ride home from Houston.  After a grueling 16 inning back a forth brawl of a baseball game, the Mets finally had one more run then the 'Stros.  Now it was time to celebrate.  Even Carter enjoyed his share of Champagne.  The problem was the game lasted over 4 hours and the plane was ready to leave.  This meant most of the celebrating happened on the plane.  Most times the players, manager, and coaches were the only people on the chartered flight.  However, the Mets front office allowed players wives to travel with the team.  This meant that they stocked the plane full of 3 times the amount of alcohol that would normally be on the flight.  Let me tell you, the Mets made them pay for that decision.  The team drank every last drop of alcohol, along with eating all the steak and lobster and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage on the plane.  From what I understand it was one of the wildest parties ever.  When they landed they looked like hell and "The Straw" poured a bottle of Andre champagne over Mayor Ed Koch's head.  Legend has it that Keith Hernandez didn't sleep after game 7 of the World Series until after the parade 2 days later.  "You don't win a World Series drinking milk" is what Hernandez said of the 1986 season

Alco-Hall of Fame

Some people never drink a drop.  Some drink only occasionally.  Some others drink often, and there’s a few that drink constantly.  But even fewer live alcohol.  These man below changed alcohol.  The three men Jasper, Adolphus and John changed the way alcohol was made, advertised, transported and ultimately consumed.  Without these men, Mickey, Keith and Andre might not be here today.  But these three men on the right belong here also.  They showed that you could be a true master of your profession and be drunk off your ass most of the time.  All three of these men are Hall of Famer’s in their respected craft and now are being honored once again.  Without any more hesitation, I present to you:

The Inaugural Class of the Alco-Hall of Fame

Jasper Newton Daniel-“Jack” b.1850-d.1911

He learned how to make whiskey from a Lutheran Minister at the age of 10 and, at age 11, ran whiskey to soldiers as far south as Huntsville, AL (From Lynchburg, TN).   At 13, he took over the business from the minister and at 16 was making quite a living distilling whiskey.  Was one of the first in the US to age whiskey and worked tirelessly to improve the taste and character of his whiskey.  Never a stranger to wacky promotions, he advertised his whiskey through crazy promotions, hot air balloons, and even the Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band.  All of it paid off in making Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey one of the most recognizable labels in the alcohol world.  The whiskey is a 7 time gold medal winner.

 Adolphus Busch-b.1839-d.1913

He was born into the business as his parents worked in winery and brewery supplies.  At age 17 married into the Anheuser family.  When his father died he inherited some money and used it to start a wholesale brewer’s supply store.  Four years later he bought into Eberhard Anheuser’s brewery.    Sometime in the early 1870’s he started pasteurizing his beer and by the middle 1870’s and early 1880’s he developed a system of artificial refrigeration, refrigerated railcars, and rail side ice houses.  He turned Budweiser (introduced in 1876) into the first national beer (before that beer was a very local thing, not available much more than a couple miles away from the brewery it was made).  Later, he introduced Michelob, America’s first specialty beer, and was an early proponent of bottling beer.  He was also the first in a long line of brewing Busches that includes August Busch IV, who still sits on the board at Bud/InBev.  He basically changed the way beer was sold, bought and consumed.

 John Jameson-“Glorious John Jameson” b.1740-d.1823¹

Although he was born a Scot, he died an Irishman.  He bought the Bow Street Distillery in 1780 and started making his name sake whiskey.  A stickler for the best ingredients, he was known to pay top dollar for the very best and even personally select the barley and casks being used.  He even went one step further in using triple distillation instead of the standard double which was used in Scotland at the time.  Paid his employees top dollar and even drank with the men after work.  He was also known to throw some of Dublin’s best parties at his Bow Street location.  Jameson is now the #1 selling Irish whiskey in the world.

Mickey Mantle- “The Commerce Comet” b.1931-d.1995

Mickey was the most popular player, on the most popular team, playing the most popular sport, in the largest city in the US, and took full advantage of it.  By all accounts he played as hard under the neon lights as he did the stadium lights.  Drinking buddies with Billy Martin, Whitey Ford and many other teammates along with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.  Got into a massive brawl with teammates (including Martin, Ford and Yogi Berra) sticking up for Sammy Davis at The Copacabana after somebody was yelling racial slurs at Sammy.  He later testified in court, under oath, “I was so drunk I don’t know who threw the first punch.”  Checked into the Betty Ford Clinic after he was told “you’re next drink may be your last.”   He received a liver transplant in June 1995, as his original one was damaged by alcohol induced cirrhosis and hep C.  After the transplant he was quoted as saying “if I knew I was gonna live this long I would have taken better care of myself.”  He died in August later that year.

Keith Moon- “Moon the Loon” b.1935-d.1978

Rock and Roll’s history is full of users and boozers but, Moon stands alone.  Moon, drunk at his 21st birthday party at a Holiday Inn began the celebration by blowing the toilet in his room to pieces with dynamite.  He then allegedly drove a Cadillac into the hotel pool (Moon definitely drove a car into the pool; he says it was a Lincoln Continental though).  Then, On January 4th 1970, Moon was involved in a car-pedestrian death outside the Red Lion pub in England.  While trying to escape hostile patrons from the pub that had begun to attack his Bentley, Moon, drunk, attempted to take control of his car, which in the melee, ran over and killed his friend, driver, and bodyguard Neil Boland.  Moon’s charges were dismissed but still, he did it.  Moon was also in a drinking club with Alice Cooper called “The Hollywood Vampires”.  Friend and fellow drummer Ringo Starr told Moon that if he kept going the way he was he would eventually kill himself. Moon simply replied "Yeah, I know.  Moon finally did kill himself with a lethal dose of booze and pills.

André René Roussimoff- “Andre the Giant” b.1946-1993

I think one thing is certain and un-debate-able, there has never been a bigger drunk then this man.  He was a fan of good beer, whiskey, wine and cognac but when the good stuff wasn’t around the cheap shit would do.  Andre was once rumored to drink 114 beers and then have wine with dinner.  When an anesthesiologist asked him how much hard alcohol it took to get him drunk Andre replied “2 liters of vodka and I start to feel a buzz.”  On top of all that, Andre was always the driver home (and I’m sure no one ever tried taking his keys).

¹ I am upset that I couldn’t find a useable picture of Mr. Jameson for the Hall.  Anytime you search John Jameson and photos you just get back pictures of bottles and Jenna Jameson.  Even on Jameson’s company web site there was not a useable photo.  Oh well, enjoy the photo of the bottle.