Hot dog... it’s Boom time in London
YANKEES AND THE RED SOX SWING FOR EACH OTHER Mike Walters
IT’S two feet long, including the handle, and one swish will send even the smartest pitch out of the ballpark.
The last time British audiences were treated to such a formidable caveman’s club, Robert De Niro was administering brutal justice at the dinner table in The Untouchables.
But that’s enough about the formidable ‘Boomstick’ hot dog they serve at Major League Baseball – all 2,000 calories of it.
As regular-season MLB made its maiden excursion on European soil at the athletics track West Ham rent for football matches, curve balls disappearing 20 rows back into the Billy Bonds stand were not the only lethal weapons on parade.
Biggest
At £24 a pop, the Boomstick is smothered in enough garnish to feed a family of four with all the condiments of the season.
And as MLB became the latest ball game from across the pond to park its tanks on British lawns, they didn’t just send in the peashooters.
Reigning World Series champions Boston Red Sox and arch-rivals New York Yankees, just about the biggest guns on the battlefield, were in town for the London Series doubleheader. The second instalment is today. Like the first, it’s a total sell-out.
Prince Harry and wife Meghan were among pre-match visitors to the locker rooms, where they were presented with gifts for baby Archie.
Making a rare public appearance since the birth of her son on May 6, the Duchess of Sussex even gave Red Sox royalty Mookie Betts a warm embrace. According to the Boston Globe, the pair could be distant relations. They were certainly on better terms than two giants of baseball. Red Sox and Yankees are the equivalent of Liverpool and Manchester United.
Finance
A hundred years ago, Red Sox owner and theatrical producer Harry Frazee sold star player Babe Ruth to the Yankees and used the proceeds to finance a show on Broadway. That worked out well – the controversial sale marked the onset of an 86-year drought in which the Red Sox failed to win the World Series from 19182004, which became known as the Curse of the Bambino.
But enmity sells tickets, and the Brits love enmity in sport. Even when they don’t understand every nuance.
Folks here love their all-american razzmatazz. The NFL has been packing them in at Wembley since 2007, while Premier League players are always first in the queue for NBA basketball missionaries spreading the gospel in London.
Glowing
Red Sox and Liverpool owner John W Henry was here, preaching not only the baseball gospel but still glowing from the Merseyside branch of his empire.
Now Henry wants to end the Kop’s 30-year wait for a Premier League title in 2020 after winning the European Cup a sixth time.
He said: “To me, winning in Europe is bigger than winning in England but I think it’s true the fans want it. I know we’re going to be focused on winning the Premier League next year.”
Yes, John – but will you be serving two-foot long hot dogs, with all the trimmings, at Anfield next season?