An excerpt from “The Joy of Ballpark Food: From Hot Dogs to Haute Cuisine,” by Bennett Jacobstein, Ballpark Food Publications.
“Baseball is a game that is identified with food. We even sing about it at every ballpark during the seventh inning stretch: … ‘buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack…’ … In the 19th century ‘crackerjack’ was a slang expression that meant ‘something very pleasing or excellent.’ The story goes that a customer, upon tasting the popcorn concoction, exclaimed ‘That’s crackerjack!’ …
Along with hot dogs and peanuts, Cracker Jack Popcorn is one of the early and traditional baseball foods … Frederick Rueckheim immigrated to Chicago from Germany in 1871. Frederick and his brother Louis sold popcorn from a cart in the streets of Chicago. Later they added a caramel coating and peanuts to create the popcorn candy which eventually was marketed as Cracker Jack. …
Each box of Cracker Jack has a picture of Sailor Jack and his dog Bingo. Sailor Jack was modeled after Robert Rueckheim, an eight-year-old nephew or grandson of Frederick … Much credit for the popularity of Cracker Jack at baseball games can be given to ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game.’”
“The Joy of Ballpark Food: From Hot Dogs to Haute Cuisine,” is available in paperback, $27.50, and Kindle, $9.99. All royalties from the sale of the book are being donated to Second Harvest Food Bank.
