What it takes to be a ‘Hot Dog Hawker’ at American Family Field
By Montse Ricossa
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MILWAUKEE (WDJT) — Peanuts and Cracker Jack are some of the foods most associated with baseball. But if you go out to American Family Field what you’ll see the most are hot dogs. The vendors who sell them, known as “hot dog hawkers,” have quite the job.
“Hot dogs, hot dogs here” is the call we all know and love. Whether you get your hot dog with mustard, ketchup, or both, everyone needs a hot dog at a ball game.
“I just think it’s that time-honored tradition of baseball with hot dogs and beers,” shared Branden Toerp from Sheboygan, who got himself a hot dog at a Brewers game. Waterford’s Mary Evans echoed that sentiment, saying, “when you go to a baseball game, you have to have a hot dog – it’s just part of it, I guess!” Eight-year-old Chandler said what he likes about Brewers games is getting a hot dog.
The man selling the hot dogs is Steve Carlovsky who said eating hot dogs at a baseball game is “a tradition! People want to have a red hot, a hot dog! They want to have the mustard, they want to have the onions. Here at AmFam, the stadium sauce!
Starting as a vendor in 1990, this is Carlovsky’s 37th year working at American Family Field, “this is a big year for me because I finally cracked the top 10 vendors in seniority.”
The 76-year-old stays active, walking up and down the steps at American Family Field every home game. “I get to be around more people, plus it keeps my life in shape, and I get to see friends who come in here saying, ‘What are you still doing this for?’ Because I enjoy it! There are people who enjoy fishing, golfing, whatever. I enjoy coming to the ballpark,” he said.
Coming to the ballpark about two to three hours before first pitch, Carlovsky gets ready for the busy day, walking through security in the tunnels below the field. There, he picks up his card reader, making sure to greet everyone he walks by. As one of the first vendors to arrive, he gets to sit and chat with his coworkers, who have become friends. “One of the things that’s big at the AmFam field is camaraderie between vendors. Dave’s been here 50 years. I’m here on year 37,” he said while sitting in a chair next to Dave, waiting for their shift to start. “We do a lot of sitting here,” he added through a laugh.
Carlovsky started as a vendor when he was working as a teacher, to help pay for hospital bills when his twin daughters were born. Even though he now works with one of them, carpooling on game days, he stuck with his job as a vendor, even as he retired from teaching: “by being a vendor, I get the atmosphere every game, and by being here I get to interact with lots and lots of people all over the state, all over the world. I mean, they say, ‘we’re just learning the game,’ which is kinda cool too.”
While fans learned the game, Steve was learning how to be a hot dog hawker. He said it takes patience as “it’s going to take you a while to get where you want to work. You have to want to be around people, project. This is a great place to be because we want you back! I want every one of my customers back every game if they could!”
Another part of the job is obviously “the call.” Carlovsky explained, “the call is important. Because you have to have a voice that projects. If your voice doesn’t project, they don’t know what products you have! And knowing the products, that’s a huge thing.”
Steve sold 11 hot dogs in one inning on a Thursday game day. If that were to stay the same for the seven innings they can sell, and multiply that by the 81 games he works. That’s 6,237 dogs! Throughout all ballparks, around 20 million hot dogs are sold annually, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.
As we followed Carlovsky around the stadium selling hot dogs, we saw some Brewers fan recognize him. Since he sells at every game in the season, Steve makes sure to get to know who he sells to. He said one customer has given him charm bracelets, which he wears every game. “My job is to make sure that the fans have a great time… I just want them to come back,” he said.
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