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Episode 700: Peanuts And Cracker Jack

Jose Magrass, hot dog selling machine.
Nick Fountain
/
NPR
Jose Magrass, hot dog selling machine.

Note: This episode originally ran in 2016.

There's not a lot of running in baseball. Mostly the players just stand around. But up in the stands, there is a very different game being played--one that demands hours of nonstop effort. The players in this game are vendors, the ballpark workers who run up and down stairs, carrying cases of water and bins of hot dogs above their heads. They are competing to sell as many snacks as possible, in as little time as possible.

In Boston's Fenway Park, the top seller is Jose Magrass. He is a legend. He's been known to sell 500 hot dogs in a single night--$2,750 worth. But slinging that many dogs in one night takes skill, shrewdness, and strategy.

On today's show: The secret world of ballpark vendors. It's a game of weather forecasting, ruthless efficiency, sore thighs, and swollen vocal chords.

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Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Nick Fountain produces and reports for Planet Money. Since he joined the team in 2015, he's reported stories on pears, black pepper, ice cream, chicken, and hot dogs (twice). Come to think of it, he reports on food a whole lot. But he's also driven the world's longest yard sale, uncovered the secretive group that controls international mail, and told the story of a crazy patent scheme that involved an acting Attorney General.
Robert Smith is a host for NPR's Planet Money where he tells stories about how the global economy is affecting our lives.