Eating Hot Dogs Remains Vital Part of Fans’ Baseball Experience

It's a well-known fact that baseball fans love the hot dogs at the ballpark. Nothing is a bigger part of America's pastime than grabbing the family, heading out to a Sunday matinee and grabbing a couple of dogs. And few do the job better than a Fenway Frank.

The National Hot Dog and Sausage council — one can only manage the spread they have at those meetings — estimates that 21 million hot dogs and six million sausages will be consumed in ballparks across the country this year. You can be sure that Bostonians are doing their fair share to bolster those estimates.

While Fenway Franks are not the most outlandish dog available — the Diamondbacks' Arizona dog or the Sonoran dog at Petco Park might hold that distinction — the classic, local dogs from Chelsea, Mass., have been getting the job done since 1909. Why mess with success?

If you ever doubted the Red Sox faithful's hot dog-eating credentials, Fenway became the first park to install a Hot Nosh Glatt Kosher hot dog vending machine. Now that's a fan base that loves its dogs.