Hotdogs! Get Your Hotdogs Here!
Major League Baseball hotdog prices, and a hotdog education when it comes to counts!
Two all the way (mustard, chili, slaw) add onions at the Roast Grill in Raleigh
Hotdogs! Get Your Hotdogs Here!
There’s a story in The Washington Post about hotdogs. Not just any hotdogs; those sold in Major League Baseball ballparks, stadiums, edifices and the like. The central them of the article, written by Scott Allen, a Post reporter covering DC professional and local college sports, is the price of hotdogs sold at the various MLB sites. Allen has a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology Stanford University, so who better to write about hotdogs.
According to the National Hotdog and Sausage Council (yes, there is such an organization), writes Allen in the lead of the story, fans at MLB ballparks, stadiums, edifices and the like eat 20 million hot dogs each season, or about 8,000 hot dogs per game.
Allen goes on to offer the different hotdog prices and styles at the various ballparks, stadiums, edifices and the like. If you’re really interested in this subject, especially the prices, you might try this link A frank look at hot dog prices at MLB ballparks or this Apple News Link.
But, wait, there’s more, of course:
Jack Herndon, long passed away, was my teacher when it comes to understanding hotdogs, though growing up in Sanford NC, my Dad grilled hotdogs on the Char-B-Que, his own genius of a charcoal grill that used a small bag of “Easy-Light” burned and seasoned wood. Just light one corner of the bag and in 10 minutes you had a perfect bed of “coals” for charring hotdogs, hamburgers, pork chops, chicken, and whatever else Mom wanted grill-cooked that evening or for lunch on weekends, especially in the summer.
Jack was the owner, operator, and story-teller of Ole Time Hotdogs in the small yet exquisite ManMur Shopping Center on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, just across that main thoroughfare from the NC State University DH Hill Library and the famous campus Brickyard, the one on the Wolfpack campus not the one in Indianapolis, the “Brick Yard.”
This hole-in-the-wall eatery, Ole Time, established sometime in the 1970s, I think, opened around 6:00 a.m. and closed around 4:00 p.m., serving breakfast biscuits and good coffee in the mornings and Jack’s well-known hotdogs from about 10:30 a.m. to closing.
Ole Time, located between a shoe shop that originally catered to students, faculty and staff alike and the 1959 established ManMur Barbershop that I’ve frequented since it opened about the time I entered NC State in 1970, maybe a few years later. Since then, I’ve gone through at least half-a-dozen “regular” barbers and prices from $2 way back then to $25 today. Get a haircut; eat a hotdog. Or eat first; get clipped next.
I also went through an uncountable number of ham, egg and cheese biscuits and boiled—that’s right, not grilled—hotdogs at Ole Time. This was a favorite hangout for NCSU faculty whose office and classes were located nearby. It wasn’t rare to see your chemistry professor in Ole Time in the morning, sitting in the back booth with a cup of coffee in one hand and a pencil for the crossword puzzle of the day in the other hand. Later in the same day, that professor might be in his favorite locale grading tests and willing to offer your grade early and a tutoring lesson on what you got wrong on the quiz.
Jack Herndon, the Ole Time owner, was a sizeable man who drove an older model Cadillac. He knew his customers, not just by name so much as by their regular orders, placed with the hotdog-making staff just inside the front door. If the line at the front was crowded, you made your way to the far end of the counter where Jack held court and barked out your order.
“Two all the way, add onions! Three all the way! One sausage dog with mustard!” he yelled above the conversation fray amongst the customers sitting at the counter or in the booths. He discouraged tipping, saying he paid his longtime employees a good wage. He discussed a little politics. He would banter on any subject whether he knew the depth of the subject or not. The food was just fine; the conversation and atmosphere were enough reason to frequent the place.
So, what was it about hotdogs that Jack Herndon taught me and many others who would listen to Jack espouse his thoughts on many subjects, including buying his excellent hotdog chili? He had no real secret about the ingredients of ground beef and tomato sauces of sorts with dashes and tablespoons of seasoning. For cooking, he only had a standard home-size electric stove with four top burners. And a very large pot.
His pot for his hotdog chili, and his chicken soup, spanned the four burners, all regulated to the right temperature. When done, he would ladle the chili in large size containers and store them in his commercial freezer. If you wanted to buy a quart, half-gallon or gallon of his chili, you needed to know his chili-making schedule to buy it fresh off the stove and not frozen. You also needed to follow his instructions for storing it at home for most economical use.
Get some plastic ice trays with a dozen, or so, individual cube locations. Fill the empty cubes with his chili. At your hotdog time, take out one or two cubes (depending on your preference) of chili per hotdog bun. Place in a small pot and warm for use. That way, you don’t have to thaw and heat the entire amount of chili you purchased from Jack. Genius!
What Jack really taught me and others was hotdog terminology when it comes to the size—the count—of the wiener. Bigger wasn’t necessarily better. Still isn’t, if you ask me but who’s asking?
In the grocery store there is a noticeable size difference among hotdogs, some skinny, some not so skinny, and some plump. Today, you’ll usually find just two sizes, skinny and plump. It’s personal preference, again, for the hotdog size you prefer, depending on the amount of condiments you use.
The well-educated hotdog consumer knows there are three counts of hotdogs in packaging which has to do with the number of hotdogs in the package with all packages holding one-pound (16-ounces) of hotdogs. Here are the counts and the weights of the hotdogs:
8-count package has 8 hotdogs @ 2-ounces each;
10-count package has 10 hotdogs @ 1.6 ounces each; and,
12-count package has 12 hotdogs @ 1.333333 ounces each.
On the other hand, the hotdog suppliers probably fudge on the ounces per package, going away from the 16-ounce per package standard, and the Major League teams and other sports venues might have special size hotdogs produced just for them to maximize profits.
Depending on how you like your hotdog (all beef or beef-pork combo), with a standard soft, white-flour bun, the 12 count hotdogs leave enough bun room for add-ons such as the Southern regulars of yellow mustard (none of the brown or grain mustards), beef chili (no ground chicken or ground turkey substitute), slaw (just chopped cabbage, no pickles, olives, etc.) with a little vinegar and sugar, and chopped onions to taste. Remember, someone asking for light onions is not referring to the color.
The 12-count hotdogs (12 to a package) allow more room for condiments without offering a sloppy, shirt/trousers staining experience but reduce the meaty flavor of the overall taste. The 8-count hotdogs (8 to a package) take up too much room in the bun, allowing for smaller amounts of condiments, but give you more of the meaty flavor of the hotdog. The 10-count (10 to a package) might be the best size offering a balance between the meaty flavor of the hotdog and the amount of the mustard, chili, slaw and onions. It’s hard to find the 10-count today. Or maybe it’s the 12-count?
For me, hotdogs are best when charred—like Dad made—just enough to give you a special flavor of the grilling process, something that's doubtful at a Major League ballpark. Jack’s hotdogs floated in slightly less than boiling water but had a great flavor. I think his supplier was Jesse Jones in Garner NC.
I wish Ole Time was still there, but’s it’s long-gone. Today, my favorite hotdog is at the Roast Grill on West Street in Raleigh NC where asking for “burned, heavily charred” hotdogs is common. Get two all-the way (mustard, chili, and slaw) and add onions with a 7-ounce Coke: $10.00! No fries or chips or ketchup at the Roast Grill, just hotdogs and the four condiments. It’s not unusual to see someone order two and then, just before taking leave, ordering one more. Don’t knock it until you try it! You can count on it!
Roasting hotdogs at the Roast Grill in Raleigh
Hot dog prices across Major League Baseball
The last time I had a hotdog at a Major League game was in 2019 in Washington DC at Nationals Park, watching former NC State and then current Washington Nationals shortstop Trea Turner in the same position the year the Nats won the World Series. I remember having the hotdog and paying what seemed like a substantial bill for that, a beer, and whatever anyone with me wanted in the way of food.
Today, according to the story written by Scott Allen in the Washington Post, the cheapest hotdog at Nationals Park is $7.99. If you’re there on a nice day, enjoying a baseball game, $7.99 is well-worth it but it’ll not be fixed the way you would like it, no doubt. Roll with it.
Here’s a list of the cheapest ballpark hot dogs available, regardless of size, from every MLB team. (Courtesy The Washington Post)
TEAM/PRICE
Toronto Blue Jays/$2.55 ($3.49 CAD)
Arizona Diamondbacks/$2.99
Miami Marlins/$3.00
Minnesota Twins/$3.99
Atlanta Braves/$3.99
Kansas City Royals/$4.00
Seattle Mariners/$4.00
Milwaukee Brewers/$4.00
Baltimore Orioles/$4.10
Cleveland Guardians/$4.50
Philadelphia Phillies/$4.99
Pittsburgh Pirates/$5.09
Chicago White Sox/$5.49
Boston Red Sox/$6.25
New York Yankees/$6.29
Detroit Tigers/$6.49
Cincinnati Reds/$6.79
Texas Rangers/$7.19
New York Mets/$7.19
Colorado Rockies/$7.24
Houston Astros/$7.59
San Francisco Giants/$7.75
St. Louis Cardinals/$7.79
Tampa Bay Rays/$7.98
Washington Nationals/$7.99
Chicago Cubs/$7.99
Los Angeles Dodgers/$7.99
San Diego Padres/$7.99
Los Angeles Angels/$8.00
Oakland Athletics/$8.39
Source: Prices were obtained from hospitality vendors, team officials and the MLB Ballpark app.
I really enjoyed this one Jim! Detroit Tiger hotdogs were really good at the old Tiger Stadium. Detroit is home to the famous Coney Dog. My favorite is the Chicago Dog.