This one didn't attempt to be a footlong, but it was a bit thicker than your average hot dog. When I was handed the foil bag containing the dog, it was extremely hot. I opted for the more expensive Super Dog. I continued to head south along the coast, destination Fort Myers, for Red Sox home games the next two days.įor the first of the Red Sox home games, against the Cardinals, the two hot dog choices were Jumbo Dog and Super Dog. I've previously had Chicago-style dogs that were better and had even more toppings at Wrigley Field and at the United terminal at O'Hare.Īfter my day-night doubleheader, I had scheduled an off day, so no baseball and no hot dogs, but more time for relaxing on the beach and exploring the Gulf Coast. Maybe this wasn't such a wise choice, because the hot dog itself was really not that tasty of a dog. So I got the Chicago dog with all of the toppings offered: celery salt, tomatoes, sauerkraut and a pickle. 2) I truly believe that you're supposed to always eat a hot dog at a baseball game. But a confluence of factors brought me back to the dog: 1) I already ate a Chick-fil-A sandwich earlier in the week in the Tampa area. Not only did they not have footlongs, but they had a very tempting non-hot dog treat that I've never seen at any other ballpark - Chick-fil-A sandwiches. This recently renovated ballpark provided a real challenge to my hot dog quest. I ate quite a bit of it but decided to leave some uneaten, mindful of the challenges ahead.įor the second game of the day, the Tampa Bay Rays were hosting the Pirates in Port Charlotte. Once I finished the dogs, I grabbed my fork and started on the pile of cheese. I pushed a lot of cheese into the tray to make it more manageable to eat the dogs, but there was still quite a lot of cheese on top. You can't even see the dogs in the picture, and you can hardly see the buns, because the pile of shredded cheese on top was immense. The dogs themselves tasted great, and the combination of dogs and toppings was just sublime - an amazing combination. Optional toppings on these chili dogs were onions and cheese, and I didn't hesitate to take both. This turned out to be a very good decision. There was some sort of special regular hot dog offered, but I went even farther away from a footlong, opting for two Coney dogs from Skyline Chili, each about half the length of a conventional hot dog. The question turned out to be moot, as they had no footlongs in Sarasota. Would I be able to handle two footlong dogs in one day? This was my first major challenge on the hot dog quest, as plans called for attending a day game at the Reds home field in Sarasota (against the Red Sox) and a then night game farther south in Port Charlotte. Nothing special this time either - another very average hot dog. I topped it with onions, relish, ketchup and mustard. This one came in sort of a frilly sleeve, and unfortunately, it fell a few inches short of being a foot long. The good thing was that they also offered a footlong dog. Steinbrenner Field (formerly known as Legends Field). Next, I was back in Tampa to see the Yankees take on the Red Sox at George M. Unfortunately, this one wasn't nearly as tasty. This dog was just about a foot long - not as impressive as the Tigers dog, but it was still quite acceptable. With all of that pre-applied for me, I didn't add any additional condiments. Here, they were preparing their footlong dogs on an outdoor grill, with optional toppings of hot peppers, sweet peppers and sauerkraut. The next day, I ventured south of Tampa to the Pittsburgh Pirates' ballpark in Bradenton. I topped it with onions, sauerkraut, ketchup and mustard, and this was a very tasty hot dog. It easily exceeded the advertised length, measuring about 15 inches. I got a footlong hot dog, and it was excellent. Day 1Īfter landing in Tampa, I drove inland to the Detriot Tigers' home field, Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, to see them take on the Marlins. One of my goals was to eat at least one hot dog at each park. I managed to attend 10 games at nine different ballparks over the course of 10 days. I just got back from a whirlwind tour of Spring Training games along Florida's Gulf Coast.
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