“Hot dogs taste better at the ball park”

Hot dogs have been sold at baseball games since at least the 1900s. Many sports enthusiasts have concluded that “hot dogs taste better at the ball park.”
 
“Hot dogs taste better at the ball park” appeared in print in a 1967 newpspaer ad for Gulden’s mustard. In 1973, the newspaper comic “Nancy” had one comic strip about the phrase.
 
“Hot dogs taste better when the home team wins” is a similar expression.
   
 
11 April 1941, Hagerstown (MD) Daily Mail, “Man About Manhattan” by George Tucker, pg. 6, col. 6:
Well, the sun splashes warm on the Polo Grounds. It colors the men and the grass and the walls. It makes the hot dogs taste better, and the soda pop.
 
3 August 1955, Clearfield (PA) Progress, pg. 4, col. 1:
Well, we’ve had our first hot dog at the Fair…But it won’t be our last before the week’s out…Somehow, hot dogs taste better at the Fair than they do any other time of the year.
 
25 May 1967, Tucson (AZ) Daily Citizen, pg. 36, col. 1 ad:
One reason hot dogs taste better at the ball park is the mustard: Gulden’s. Gulden’s looks dark, but it’s not hot. It has a bright, hearty flavor. Take our reduced price coupon to the food store, take home a jar of Gulden’s. And bring that bright, ball park flavor to your table.
 
7 January 1969, Bryan (TX) Times, “Hints from Heloise,” pg. 3, col. 6:
Those “baseball park” hot dogs always taste better because of the steamed rolls.
 
10 September 1970, Long Beach (CA) Press-Telegram, pg. A26, cols. 3-5:
Hot Dogs Always
Taste Better
at the Ball Park
NEW YORK (UPI)—How come the great American hot dog almost always tastes better at the ball park than it does at home/
 
“No. 1. Supermarkets do not carry the brand of frankfurter we have,” says Harry L. Gilman, who sells a share of the estimated 15 billion hot dogs consumed annually in the United States.
 
“No. 2, the aroma of the spices blended in them and the mustard and the onions or sauerkraut and the spirit of the crowd make them appeat to taste even better.”
 
While his observations were applied strictly to New York, the same perhaps is true across the nation. Housewives and backyard chefs often try in vain to capture the same gastronomical delight produced by a hot dog at a ball park, other sports events or a roadside stand.
(...)
His company, Marathon Enterprises, produced frankfurters and rolls for thousands of purveyors in the New York area as well as all the rolls for concessionaires at Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden.
 
21 June 1971, Oakland (CA) Tribune, pg. E33, col. 1:
Why is it hot dogs always taste better at a ball game?
 
2 November 1973, Provo (UT) Daily Herald, “Nancy” cartoon by Ernie Bushmiller, pg. 22, col. 6:
Panel One:
NANCY: WHY AREN"T YOU EATING YOUR HOT DOG?
SLUGGO: NOT HERE—I HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE TO EAT MINE
Panel Two:
(Both are sitting in an empty stadium)
SLUGGO: HOT DOGS ALWAYS TASTE BETTER IN A BALL PARK
 
18 August 1982, Sitka (AK) Daily Sentinel, “Baseball in the Summer” by Lawrence Strauss, pg. 6, col. 3:
“Hot dogs taste better at the ball park, don’t they?” one of the concession workers quipped.
 
26 June 1983, Galveston (TX) Daily News, “Other foods gaining in popularity but hot dog still king at ball parks” by Ben Walker (AP Sports Writer), pg. 5C, col. 1:
Baseball fans have always contended that hot dogs taste better at the ballpark, whether they’re Fenway Franks in Boston or a Dodger Dog in Los Angeles.
   
New York (NY) Times
DE GUSTIBUS; NEVER EAT AT ‘MOM’S,’ AND OTHER RULES OF THE ROAD
By BRYAN MILLER
Published: Saturday, July 16, 1983
(...)
The Law of Velocity: Bad food eaten at 60 miles per hour tastes better than bad food eaten in the restaurant that prepared it. This is a twist on the ‘‘Hot dogs taste better at the ball park’’ law. If you fall prey to a bad restaurant, ask the waitress for doggie bags so you can eat in the car.
   
New York (NY) Times
5 Airlines, 16 meals, a Handful of Hits
By BRYAN MILLER
Published: Wednesday, May 16, 1990
(...)
Because eating these meals on flights would have involved too much time, the tastings were done on the ground rather than in an airplane. There may be a hot-dogs-taste-better-at-the-ballpark syndrome working in favor of airline food, which I tried to keep in mind.
   
New York (NY) Times
Here Comes the Bill;
How Experts Cut the Costs But Keep The Magic
By BRYAN MILLER
Published: Wednesday, May 10, 1995
(...)
“We tell clients that if they have to put limited money somewhere, they should put it where guests are going to see it and remember it—and that means the reception,” Mrs. Eskenazi said. It seems to be a twist on the old axiom that hot dogs taste better at the ballpark: wedding guests are at their most ravenous—and impressionable—at the cocktail reception that precedes the dinner.
 
Google Books
Get ‘em Laughing:
Public Speaking Humor, Quotes and Illustrations
By E. Gene Davis
Published by Trafford Publishing
2007
Pg. 287:
“No matter how many hot dogs you eat at home, they always taste better at the ballpark.”
Oscar Mayer’s Creed