The sights and smells of a ballgame are an experience in themselves. From the bat's first crack to the crowd's roar, the stadium pulsates with an energy fueled by more than just the action on the field. It's the shared experience, the rituals, and the food. Think of it: the aroma of grilling burgers mingling with the buttery scent of popcorn, the salty crunch of peanuts, and the cheesy goodness of nachos, all washed down with ice-cold beer or soda. And then there's the star of the show, the quintessential ballpark treat, the one that’s as much a part of the game as the pennant waving in the breeze or the foam finger cheering a home run: the hot dog. But how did this iconic tube of meat earn its name? The story behind the hot dog's moniker is a surprisingly flavorful tale, and it's about to be served up.
The old saying goes that you can't teach an old dog a new trick. That may be true, but what if the dog is of the Frankfurter breed? Can we call them something different? Who named it the term hot dog anyway?
Most of us have eaten, purchased, or seen hot dogs sold at a football game at one point or more. I know the old Chevy commercials would like to make us believe that baseball is the sport associated with apple pie and hot dogs; the marketing department at the General Motors division may be surprised by what sports connection history holds for the hot dog.
No one knows precisely who named the hot dog, but one story in football history should interest us. It says that famous New York Journal cartoonist Tad Dorgan attended a gridiron contest at the Polo Grounds one fall afternoon in the early 1920s. While there, he observed a food vendor, Harry Stevens, selling the "hot dachshund sausages" during a game at the New York stadium and shouting, "Get your red-hot dachshund sausages!"
When Dorgan later tried to create the story in the newspaper, he found that, like most of us, he had no idea how to spell the word dachshund, so knowing the loosely connected English translation, he expressed it in print as, "Get your red-hot dogs!"
Some experts say this was an urban legend as the print of Dorgan's story or cartoon has never surfaced or been located. Other leads say that Americans transcribed the dachshund naturally and publicly into the work hot dog from the dachshund. Still, for a story on football history, the first one is much more fun!
Credits
A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: Legendary storyteller Paul Harvey for the inspiration, Hot-Dog.org, and Wikipedia
The banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of a vendor standing next to his Tellas Busy Bee cart, advertising 'Red Hot Frankfurters and Ice Cold Lemonade' traffic a blur in the background.Citation/Reference: circa April 8, 1936. Contributed by Berenice Abbott, taken by an unknown.
