Hot Dog Alert #18

When you are the Triple-A farm club of the reigning World Series Champions, you really need to step up to the plate when pushing hot dogs at the ballpark. The Omaha Storm Chasers have done their parent club proud with serving fans one of the most exciting dogs in the minors: the Cor-Dog-O.

This delectable treat gets its name from the Storm Chasers President and General Manager Martie Cordaro. The team exec noted that he had really made it baseball when he had a monster dog named after him. In my opinion, there is not higher honor in the sport.

The Cor-Dog-O starts with a winning combination. Not one, but TWO Hebrew National franks. Throw in some pulled pork, coleslaw and wrap it all in a tortilla and you have concessions item that is all the rave at Werner Park. And it only costs $8. A bargain for anything with two Hebrew Nationals in it.

How good does it sound? It looks almost delicious enough to lure me to Omaha. Then I realized Omaha is in Nebraska. 

Griggs Park: Alamogordo Pupfish

There are several things I like about independent league baseball. I love sitting at an obscure park in the middle of nowhere with about 35 other fans (tops) watching hungry ballplayers scrape through nine innings. I also like that it usually costs well below ten bucks for any seat in the stadium. Baseball on a budget, that's me.

I am a big fan of the Pecos League, a photo of me in the most circulated newspaper in New York City shows me eating a hot dog in front of Yankee Stadium wearing a Pecos League tee-shirt. One of my roadtrip plans is to eat a dog at each of the Pecos Leage ballparks; but there's a problem: they keep moving. The cities that host a team changes dramatically each season, and it's hard to hit a moving target. One of the towns that is relativley Pecos League stable is Alamogordo, New Mexico. Their team, the Pupfish, play at Griggs Park, or as the Pupfish have taken to calling it; The Aquarium. Catchy no?

Concessions in The Aquarium consists of two food carts. The Humming Bird Cafe cart dishes out, among other things, the hot dogs, while another cart called Swamp Donkey (really) sells shaved ice.

The dogs are pretty standard in The Aquarium. I had the $3 hot dog that comes equipped with a generous plump Nathan's Famous frank. Nathan's is a good choice, and my second personal favorite, right behind Hebrew National. It's pretty basic condiments as well. I opted for the traditional mustard and relish. You can never go wrong with that combo. All in all it was pretty tasty, and way better than what I expected for such a small park and fanbase. They would do well to offer up a specialty dog that is somehow linked to the team or region, but when you are serving less than 50 fans per game, no one can blame them for sticking to the basics.

Worth getting a dog there? You betcha! And before the game you can stop by the beautiful White Sands National Monument just a few miles away. And see my personal favorite regional tourist attraction: the final resting place of Ham the space chimp, America's first primate in space. 

Hot Dog Alert #17

Is it Winston? Or is it Salem? I'll never figure it out, but apparently the folks in Winston-Salem, NC have. I'll take a wild guess and suggest it has something to do with tobacco since both Winston and Salem are cigarette brands. They say smoking is bad for your health, so let's talk about something good for you: hot dogs. Hot dogs are good for your aren't they? Tell me they are, because if they aren't, I'll never live to see 60.

Since I don't smoke I can't vouch for the region's tobacco, but I can attest to their exquisite taste in hot dogs. The Winston-Salem Dash have introduced a great dog to their lineup this year: the Cheesy Pig Dog. It is a hot dog with BBQ pork, mac n cheese and shredded cheese. It's cheesy alright. You can add some Texas Pete hot sauce to it to create the Flaming Cheesy Pig.

If you have never been to North Carolina, put it on your list of places to visit. The Carolinas are vacation worthy. They have mountains, beaches, cool cities and great food. Not to mention a high concentration of minor league baseball.

The Cheesy Pig Dog is sure to make you squeal with pleasure, so head on down to the ballpark and make a hog of yourself.