The theme song comes on midway through the fifth inning, and the crowd is infused with energy that only three racing digital hot dogs can provide.
There’s the one where ketchup falls rounding third base and still somehow beats mustard and relish. There’s the one where mustard hops under first and emerges at third to take the win. And who can forget the 2021 season, when relish didn’t cross first until the 34th home game? It was a really big dill for fans, who relished seeing the condiment break the losing streak.
The digital hot dog race has been a fan favorite for years. But now it’s getting even better. On Monday, the Orioles debuted a live hot dog race.
The race started out just like all the others. Each hot dog was introduced on the video screen, but then a no signal message appeared. Out came costumed mascots for ketchup, relish and mustard. They lined up and raced down the first base foul line, with relish coming out victorious.
But never fear, there will be ample time to ketchup on this new version of the race. They will run live a dozen more times this season.
In between, the Orioles will continue to show the digital version, which is modeled after the dot races the team showed at Memorial Stadium. When the team moved to Camden Yards, it hired an outside contractor to create three versions of a race to show on their video board — the inning breaks at the time were too short to even consider a live race.
They started with only three versions, one where each hot dog won. Fans, though, quickly caught on, the Orioles underestimating how passionate they would become about the race. They created more, and now everyone except for the extreme cult members is surprised by the ending each day. The location of the race has also changed from a generic stadium to the streets of Baltimore to now a virtual Camden Yards.
The identities of the people in the hot dog costumes will remain guarded — the Orioles consider them to be in the same category as Mr. Splash and the Oriole Bird — but they will host a meet and greet from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Weis Market in Pasadena. No ticket is required.
