I understand why people might be indifferent to professional sports. Obsessive fans, cocky athletes, privileged team owners, and government-funded stadiums all combine to create a pastime that a reasonable person might find unappealing. Having said that, I think that occasionally there are moments in sports when even the non-fan should take note. What happened in Milwaukee last Wednesday afternoon qualifies. The Milwaukee Brewers won their twelfth baseball game in a row and set off a local excitement that is now the best sports story of the summer.
Last week the Brewers’ twelve-game winning streak triggered a longstanding promise made by a local hamburger chain. George Webb, a Milwaukee institution that dates back to the 1940s, hands out free hamburgers (one per customer) whenever the home team wins twelve games in a row. For the third time in history (1987, 2018, and now 2025), George Webb is about to pay up.
To appreciate the magic associated with this event, a person needs to understand two parts of the story. First of all, the Brewers aren’t supposed to be good. This is an era where big city teams acquire the best players by offering them salaries that small market teams cannot afford. Milwaukee is the smallest market of all and must compete with a comparatively small payroll. It does this by fielding a team heavy with players too young to have yet signed their first eight-figure contracts. This year the Brewers, with a starting lineup of rookies, second-year players, and non-superstar veterans, are showing that money is not the only way to win games. They are the Bad News Bears of major league baseball.
Secondly, George Webb restaurants are dinosaurs. They are remnants of an earlier time. They are a small Milwaukee-based franchise that has not rebranded itself in seventy-five years. A friend of mine once compared them to an Edward Hopper painting, and that description is apt. George Webb restaurants are what every trendy diner wishes it could be.
I have been to a George Webb restaurant twice in my life, and both times were before the age of seven. I recall a long white counter with a row of stools and two large side-by-side clocks on the wall. The two clocks differed by a minute, and I was told that it was because all George Webb restaurants are open each day for 23 hours, 59 minutes. I’ve never understood that part.
Brandon Woodruff, the Brewer’s starting pitcher for Game Twelve, said that he was unusually nervous during warmups. He didn’t want to be the person who was responsible for the entire city of Milwaukee not getting free hamburgers.*
Woodruff did win, and Free Burger Day is set for August 20. The event couldn’t be held the day immediately after the winning streak, because the restaurant chain needed to make special arrangements with its burger and bun suppliers. Thousands of people will line up that day, not because they want to save a few dollars, but because they want to be part of a happening. I won’t be driving four hours to join the fun, but I thought about it.
The big money teams (e.g., Dodgers, Yankees, Cubs) will probably rule the day once the playoffs begin, but this likelihood makes Free Burger Day all the more important for the city of Milwaukee. Fans in New York or LA might get a World Series parade this year, but they won’t get free hamburgers.
* “Brewers keep rolling, win free burgers with 12th straight victory.” August 13, 2025. ESPN. Found at https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45969498/brewers-keep-rolling-win-free-burgers-12th-straight-victory.
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