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

iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
macbook pro blue green

M5 MacBook Pro No Longer Coming in 2025

Thursday July 10, 2025 12:38 pm PDT by
Apple does not plan to refresh any Macs with updated M5 chips in 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are now planned for the first half of 2026. Gurman previously said that Apple would debut the M5 MacBook Pro models in late 2025, but his newest report suggests that Apple is "considering" pushing them back to 2026. Apple is now said to be...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says iPhone Driver's Licenses Will Expand to These 8 U.S. States

Tuesday July 8, 2025 11:26 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states, Puerto Rico,...
iPhone 17 Air Colors Thumb 2

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air Rumored to Come in These 9 Colors

Friday July 11, 2025 12:30 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be available in a total of nine color options, according to new information coming out of Asia. The iPhone 17 Air's expected color options. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean blog Naver, accessory manufacturers are now producing camera protector rings for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air in colors to match their...

Top Rated Comments

Nunyabinez Avatar
140 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
140 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
140 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
140 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
140 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
140 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)