Take Me Out To The Ballgame

About author / Pamela Chester

Mom of two; graduate French Culinary Institute; kids cooking program instructor; Master's degree in food studies. Creates kid friendly foods and loves her slow cooker.

As the mother of two boys, and being married to an avid sports fan, I know our summers are likely to be filled with the All-American sport of baseball. Now I cannot profess to knowing every statistic and World Series champion going back a couple dozen years like my husband, but I have always enjoyed going to a major league baseball game. We share a common favorite memory – that classic summer evening sound of the buzz of the AM radio playing that night’s game, and more than a few trips to the ballpark to watch a game live. Although I don’t remember each play of every game, I do remember all the iconic ballpark foods we consumed while watching the game – the peanuts, popcorn, Crackerjacks, and, of course, ballpark franks.

Not only does Major League Baseball go hand in hand with yummy foods for me, but so does little league and t-ball. I remember while my older brother played for his team, my sister and I would count up our hard earned pennies and see how much candy we could score at the snack bar. That was back in the day when you could buy a piece of candy for a penny, so a dollar bought a bag of a hundred Swedish Fish. We would stuff ourselves full of so much candy that sometimes we’d get sick to our stomachs.

And it was the same at the ballpark. Even though I was a pretty light eater as a child, something about the warm summer air brought out a big appetite for all those goodies while watching the game. And that tendency continued on through my adulthood. On our first trip to a major league game, my husband-to-be noted that I was munching happily away continuously through the entire (11 inning!) game. I like to stretch it out – first I get a pretzel, then maybe a package of peanuts, then a hotdog, and for dessert, a lemon slushie and cotton candy. We happened to be at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, and I particularly enjoyed the Chicago style dog there, complete with tomato, bright green relish, cucumbers, celery salt, and yellow mustard, on a seeded bun.

While traditionally, hot dogs might have had a regional flavor from stadium to stadium, the major league offerings generally were pretty standard. But now those classic All-American favorites are joining some foods with a more regional flair. An interesting trend I have noticed on our recent ballpark excursions is for the area’s well-known food joints to open an outlet at the newer major sports stadium, making the ballpark experience one with more of a local flavor. So in Philadelphia’s Citizen’s Bank Park we have cheesesteak sandwiches and water ice; you can find regional favorites in many of the other stadiums as well. Crabcakes at Baltimore’s Camden Yards, Chowder at Boston’s Fenway Park, Fish tacos in San Diego, Sushi in Seattle, Cuban sandwiches in Miami, and local chili in Washington, DC.

So nowadays when we bring our children to baseball games, they may grow up with an entirely different memory of ballpark food!

Serves/Makes: 8

• 8 all-beef hot dogs
• 2 pounds potatoes, unpeeled and cut in 3 x 1/2-inch thick planks
• 8 hot dog buns
• 1 cup minced onions
• 1 cup diced fresh tomatoes
• 1 cup yellow mustard
• 1 cup sweet pickle relish
• sport peppers, to taste (or pepperoncini peppers if you can't get sport peppers)
• celery salt, to taste