MasterCard Airs 'Priceless Surprises' World Series Ads Featuring Apple Pay

Earlier this week, Major League Baseball and MasterCard announced a partnership that has seen Apple Pay support roll out at concession stands at ballparks in San Francisco and Kansas City for the World Series. As part of its World Series promotional push, MasterCard also debuted a pair of television ads during last night's Game 1, featuring Apple Pay and the company's "Priceless Surprises" program that has seen cardholders surprised with various rewards.


One spot features former New York Yankees star Mariano Rivera and longtime Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, while the second features Kansas City Royals legend George Brett, with MasterCard promoting surprises such as meet-and-greets with the stars and tickets to World Series games.


On its Priceless Surprises website, MasterCard notes it has surprised over 70,000 cardholders with various rewards, and now Apple Pay gives users more ways to win.

Apple launched its Apple Pay mobile payments service on Monday with the debut of iOS 8.1, with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus supporting the service in-store and in apps, while the new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 support it for in-app purchases only.

MasterCard, Visa, and American Express have all signed onto the program, as have over 500 banks and a number of major retailers. Launching first in the United States, Apple Pay is now accepted at over 200,000 points of sale and the cards and banks responsible for the vast majority of U.S. credit card spending are compatible with the service.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

Home Hub Command Center with Dome Base Feature

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Thursday September 25, 2025 1:11 pm PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system codenamed "Charismatic," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple smart home hub concept based on rumors This is likely Apple's long-rumored "homeOS" operating system. In a report last month, Gurman said both Apple's rumored smart home hub in 2026 and tabletop robot in 2027 will run the new operating system. He said the software platform ...
Tim Cook Rainbow

Apple Event in October? Here's What to Expect

Monday September 29, 2025 9:31 am PDT by
Apple's annual iPhone event is in the rearview mirror, but rumors suggest the company plans to release a handful of additional products before the year ends. Will there be another Apple event this October? We discuss the possibility below. Apple in October Apple's most recent October events were in 2021 and 2023. In 2022 and 2024, Apple did not host an October event. Instead, it...
iOS 26

Apple Continues to Prepare iOS 26.0.1 With Multiple Bug Fixes Expected

Sunday September 28, 2025 1:30 pm PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. The account initially said iOS 26.0.1 would have a build number of 23A350, but they now expect the update to have a build number of 23A355. This suggests that the software update will include more bug fixes or changes than initially...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

New MacBook Pro Nears Mass Production, But Four Bigger Upgrades Expected Next Year

Sunday September 28, 2025 2:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next MacBook Pro models will enter mass production soon, according to the latest information shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said he continues to believe the new MacBook Pro models will be released at some point between late 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, meaning they should be available to order by March at the latest. Apple often...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.0.1 With Fixes for Wi-Fi, Cellular, and Camera Issues on iPhone 17 Models

Monday September 29, 2025 10:12 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 26.0.1 and iPadOS 26.0.1, the first updates to the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 operating systems that came out earlier this week. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. According to Apple's release notes for the update, iOS 26.0.1 addresses a bug that could cause aberrations in...
iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

iPhone 16 Pro Max 80% Charge Limit: One Year Later, Was It Worth It?

Wednesday September 24, 2025 3:58 pm PDT by
With the iPhone 15 series, I did an experiment and kept my iPhone's Charge Limit set at 80 percent for an entire year. It provided an interesting look at the impact of charge limits on battery longevity, so I decided to repeat it for the iPhone 16 line. Since September 2024, my iPhone 16 Pro Max has been limited to an 80 percent charge, with no cheating. As of today, my battery's maximum...
maxresdefault

New iPad Pro With M5 Chip Leaked in Unboxing Video

Tuesday September 30, 2025 8:39 am PDT by
An apparent unboxing video for an unannounced iPad Pro with the M5 chip was uploaded to YouTube today by Russian channel Wylsacom. The same YouTube account leaked the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip before it was announced by Apple last year, so this is likely a legitimate leak. Based on the box shown in the video, this appears to be a 13-inch iPad Pro with an M5 chip, 256GB of...
iphone 17 ceramic shield

Regular iPhone 17's USB-C Charging Speeds Tested With Apple Chargers

Friday September 26, 2025 9:01 am PDT by
The website ChargerLAB has tested the standard iPhone 17 model's USB-C charging speeds with a variety of Apple's chargers, from 18W to 140W. The device reached a peak charging speed of around 27W to 28W with these Apple chargers:29W USB-C Power Adapter 30W USB-C Power Adapter 35W Dual USB-C Port Power Adapter 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max...
LG UltraFine 6K Display TB5

LG UltraFine 6K (32U990A) TB5 Display: Pre-Orders Open September 30

Monday September 29, 2025 6:21 am PDT by
Pre-orders for LG's new UltraFine evo 6K display (model 32U990A) with Thunderbolt 5 support will begin on September 30, according to a major U.S. retailer listing. LG first revealed the 32-inch display at CES 2025 in January, teasing its status as the first monitor to support Thunderbolt 5. At the time, LG only provided high-level specs, but left pricing, availability, and full technical...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Iridescent 1

Samsung Confirms Plan to Make Foldable Displays for Major American Company

Monday September 29, 2025 6:54 am PDT by
Samsung Display president Lee Cheong has confirmed plans to make foldable smartphone displays for a major American company, which is widely believed to be Apple. As reported in Chosun Biz, Cheong last week told journalists in Seoul that the company is accelerating preparations for mass production of OLED displays designed for foldable smartphones to be supplied to a "North American client."...

Top Rated Comments

Nunyabinez Avatar
143 months ago
'Priceless surprise' indeed.

"Hey, keep all of your financial details on a smartphone that can't even keep a stable wifi signal."

I hope you'll forgive me if I'm a little pessimistic about Apple Pay. No doubt it'll be big -- I just sincerely hope nothing goes wrong as that would be disastrous.

Yes, I would much rather hand my card with my account number, security code and signature to a waiter who takes it to the back to process it. No chance that system would have issues.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
osofast240sx Avatar
143 months ago
Google wallet never had this push not even remotely close. Can't wait to hear the responses from all the android naysayers
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2010mini Avatar
143 months ago
Well in the rest of the world (not America), we have this great thing called 'chip and pin'. And it's everywhere.

So the steps are:

1) take out your card
2) put your card in and type in your pin

I appreciate Apple Pay will be great across the pond, but it's essentially the same process -- except your phone is your card and your pin is your fingerprint. And as iOS 8 was a steaming buggy pile I'm sure you can grant me a little cynicism.

You missed this one:
3) hope a thief doesn't see your pin, then lifts your wallet and go spending while you are unaware it is missing
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mazeman Avatar
143 months ago
'Priceless surprise' indeed.

"Hey, keep all of your financial details on a smartphone that can't even keep a stable wifi signal."

I hope you'll forgive me if I'm a little pessimistic about Apple Pay. No doubt it'll be big -- I just sincerely hope nothing goes wrong as that would be disastrous.

The beauty of Apple Pay is that NOTHING of any value if kept on the phone, or kept by Apple. No CC#, security code, or expiration date. Your CC# isn't even transmitted to the vendor.

You might want to read up on it.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nunyabinez Avatar
143 months ago
Google wallet never had this push not even remotely close

Apple should thank the NSA (or was it FBI) for complaining that their systems were secure enough that they couldn't be accessed by government spying. You can't buy that kind of publicity.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
agsystems Avatar
143 months ago
MC is really going hard in for the :apple:Pay
Might be irrelevant to some - but this is going to save them billions in fraud charges - that's why these banks are so happy.

Even if the phone is stolen is useless since the thief won't have your fingerprints and you can easily disabled it using any browser.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)