Burnt Toast Sports – Brilliantly Stupid

Today, Brewers fans around the world stand tall, proud—and oddly hungry—as the Crew swept the former World Series champion Dodgers again and won their 10th consecutive game.

The Brewers have elusively dominated their opponents through painstakingly long at-bats, brilliant baserunning, speed, situational hitting, and elite player development. They now find themselves tied with the Cubs for first place in the NL Central and tied for the second-best record in all of baseball.

Now, with just 10 days left until the trade deadline, big decisions loom in the front office. Do they go out and get a marquee bat, or would that affect the clubhouse chemistry? How do they supplement the current roster with more talent that fits the team’s mantra of “doing the little things right”?

While the team remains focused on Pat Murphy’s “win tonight” attitude, and the front office tries to make deadline deals without trading key prospects or sacrificing the future, fans have their eyes locked on something else:

George Webb’s.

George Webb’s has been serving southeastern Wisconsin greasy, cheap, hangover-satisfying, delicious food for 77 years—seven years before the first McDonald’s opened in Wisconsin. In the 1940s, George—a guy’s guy—promised free cheeseburgers if the then-Milwaukee Braves won 12 straight games. Decades later, with a new team in town, the Brewers started the 1987 season with 13 straight wins. George made good on his promise. And then some.

Wisconsinites feasted on more than 168,000 free cheeseburgers. To meet the demand, legend has it George Webb’s ordered over 25,000 pounds of ground beef (about 125 cows).

Since then, George Webb’s has only had to “pay up” one other time—in 2018—when the Brewers won their final eight games of the regular season and their first four of the playoffs (thanks, Rockies). Fans almost earned their meat sweats in 2021 when the team won 11 in a row. The Brewers have also hit 10-game win streaks five times (2003, 1998, 1979, 1978, 1973).

While the Brewers have been on the cusp of free cheeseburger greatness before, this time feels different.

Currently, there are only 21 George Webb locations still open—10 fewer than the franchise’s peak. The chain was in the news earlier this year when its location on North Oakland Ave closed in February. The Oconomowoc location, once a staple among Wisconsin Ave’s finest late-night dining experiences, is now open only for limited hours due to staffing shortages.

For a restaurant once marketed as being open 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds a day—because at the time it was illegal to be open 24/7—George Webb’s is a shell of its former self. Much like Freddy Freeman and Javy Báez.

So here’s the question: If the Brewers win 12 consecutive games… could they run George Webb’s out of business?

All local restaurant chains come to an end. None live forever. Whether it’s the economy, the pandemic, fewer drunk customers dropping $20 on a 2 a.m. feast, or just kids these days, George Webb’s could go out with a BANG.

And honestly, I believe George Webb—and Jim Webb—wouldn’t want it any other way. To sell their last cheeseburger to Brewers fans, ravenous and cheating on their diets for a historically wacky baseball team—almost as wacky as all the memories from George Webb’s you can’t remember? That’s a beautiful sendoff.

Brewers fans will now turn their attention to Seattle, where Brandon Woodruff takes the mound tonight against George Kirby.

Coincidence?

I think not.