How many hot dogs could Babe Ruth eat in one sitting?

Answer 1

It has been said that Babe Ruth's illness during spring training of 1925 was caused by binging on Hot Dogs and soda pop before a game. According to the related link, "Babe Ruth once ate 12 hot dogs & had 8 bottles of soda between games of a double header. He was reportedly rushed to the hospital after the game with a severe case of indigestion."

While we have no historical information on the volume of hot dogs Babe Ruth has consumed in his lifetime, we can compare it to some statistics provided by the National Sausage and Hot Dog Council.

The National Sausage and Hot Dog Council estimates Americans eat 7 billion hot dogs during peak season, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. That can be broken down to 818 hot dogs per second. Much of that consumption occurs at various sporting events. Major League Baseball's ballpark's will sell approximately 30 million hot dogs in a season. That is enough to round the bases 41,667 times. Also, interesting to note, an average hot dog vendor will sell approximately 150 hot dogs per game and 10,000 to 12,000 hot dogs per season.

While the council isn't able to give you an exact figure on how many hot dogs each person eats (everyone is different and has different tastes) they can estimate that if 20 billion hot dogs are consumed by Americans in one year, it can be broken down to about 70 hot dogs per person per year.

Babe Ruth died when he was 53 years old. If we multiply 53 by 70 it equals 3,710 hot dogs consumed over the course of his lifetime.

Answer 2

There is a sports legend that says that Babe Ruth once ate 24 hot dogs between innings during a Baseball game. It is uncertain though if this is fact or fiction.

Answer 3

Yes. He ate hot dogs before each game to do well.

He believed it was good luck.