I Ate a Lot of Other Stuff for a Guy Who Collected Kellogg's Cards

There are lots of stories about Babe Ruth eating, eating and eating.  Sure I've heard how he eat hot dogs during games.  Blah, blah, blah.  Could someone estimate how many he ate during his playing career?

I was stuck in traffic more than usual a few days ago and to keep sane and awake I started to estimate how many hot dogs I ate during 11 years working at golf courses, nine as a caddie.  In six of those years I managed to get in about 175 rounds per year.

Even though my father mentioned a member that we both caddied for who would buy the caddie a beef sandwich and a milk shake between nines, I only was able to manage that one time in my caddie career.  There was an elderly couple that only gave us pretzels, crackers and peanuts - no drink.  The well-water on the 12th tee tasted really good on those hot summer days.

The standard menu was a hot dog and a pop.  The hot dog came with two choices - mustard and relish.  Sometimes if the golfer wasn't a Southsider he'd call it a soda instead of a pop.  A few times a year a member might get the caddies a burger but the hot dog was available everywhere everyday.  The caddie shack sold hot dogs and cans of Canfield's.

I estimated that I caddied 1,400 rounds in my career.  How did I come up with that number?  I estimated how often my brothers caddied and I doubled it.

I also probably averaged at least another hot dog each day.  Then on days when I was there really late - almost every day - the caddie master would usually let us have the remaining dogs.  It certainly was hard to resist those slow steamed treats with the buns in the steamer as well.  Can you tell that I am hungry now.

Tournaments offered free food for caddies.  My record was 10 hots dogs one day.  So, I think I am a member of the 3,000 hot dog club.  Is anyone else up there?  Where does Ruth rank?   After my caddie days ended I avoided hot dogs for a long time but I love them once again.

My son puts ketchup on his hot dog - ick!

What About Breakfast?

In the morning my brother and I would stop at one of two different bakeries or Dunkin Donuts during our bike ride to the course.  This was proably our normal routine for weekdays.  At the bakeries we'd usually get 3-4 donuts each.  If we went to Dunkin Donuts we'd split a dozen with me usually eating seven of them.  My record is 10 donuts and a bagel, but I didn't caddie that day.

A quick estimate there puts me between 2,000 and 3,000 donuts.  This is harder to estimate since our routine would vary if we couldn't ride our bikes.  How we abused these bikes is the story for another day.

If I had eaten more corn flakes I'd be healthier and I'd have a better collection of Kellogg's cards.  Hard to believe that both of us have run multiple marathons including Boston.