One of the best things about going to a baseball game is the food, which is unlike anything you can get at other sporting events.
Even here in Plant City, sometimes. With baseball and softball season officially over, I can tell you right now that I’m going to miss some of the food. I ate my favorite meal of the season at Plant City High School, during their preseason tournament — a pulled-pork sandwich with baked beans, potato salad and a chocolate chip cookie. It was easily one of the best pulled-pork sandwiches I’ve eaten in 2014, and I’ve already been to one barbecue festival.
I’ve never had food that good at any other events — football, basketball, hockey, soccer, you name it. And, it’s not just high school: Baseball’s delicious dominion extends into the pros, as well.
If you’re going to Tropicana Field to watch the Rays play, you can treat yourself to one of their Cuban sandwiches while you watch the game unfold — and you won’t regret it.
Nothing goes together quite like baseball and hot dogs, but that ballpark staple also divides a lot of fans. The Dodger Dog, a footlong that comes with mustard and onions, may be the most accessible for all taste buds. Cubs and White Sox fans stand by their Chicago Dogs, which adds pickle spears, tomato slices and celery salt. If you like chili dogs, you’re in one of two camps: pro-Coney Dog (of the Detroit Tigers — a thicker chili) or pro-Cheese Coney (of the Cincinnati Reds — Skyline’s runnier chili).
Some ballparks specialize in seafood. If you go to AT&T Park to watch the San Francisco Giants, you can stop by Crazy Crab’z and get yourself a Dungeness Crab Sandwich — piles of sweet Dungeness crab meat sandwiched between two slice of buttered garlic toast. Or, if you’re in Miami for a Marlins game, you can dine on shrimp burgers at Burger 305.
But if you, like me, are a barbecue fiend, the Kansas City Royals serve up a Burnt Ends sandwich with dill pickle chips that, apparently, is unparalleled. The Kansas City barbecue scene loves its burnt ends, perhaps more than any other in the country, and the thick, tomato and molasses-based sauce is my personal favorite.
Although some people think baseball is the most boring of America’s Big Four sports, some of the wackier food items may make up for it. The Arizona Diamondbacks, for example, started serving the D-Bat Dog this season — an 18-inch corn dog filled with bacon, cheese and jalapeño peppers.
If you like size-based challenges, head on over to a Rays game. They’ve got a four-pound Rays burger — served with a pound of fries — that goes for $30. If you conquer the meal, congratulations! You get a T-shirt. Oh, and two tickets to a regular-season game.
Does a parfait sound good right now? How about a pulled-pork parfait, with mashed potatoes? If so, you need to make plans to go to a Milwaukee Brewers home game.
The kings of the over-the-top food dish, though, are the Texas Rangers.
You can eat something as simple as bacon on a stick there, or you can step it up a bit with a Sausage Sundae (think a banana split, but with sausage links, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, pulled pork and a cherry tomato on top).
The biggest, baddest dog in the majors, though, is their “Boomstick.” It’s a two-foot dog covered in mountains of caramelized onions, chili, jalapeños, and nacho cheese, a three-pound meal in a potato bun.
I like to keep it simple when I order at the ballpark, though. So, if that barbecue will be back at Plant City High School — or at Durant and Strawberry Crest — I’ll be back on cloud nine.