Indy Baseball Chatter: 'Baseball's Best Burger'

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

'Baseball's Best Burger'

I wonder how many times we have heard someone say they have Baseball's Best Burger? The latest one I read about really caught my attention because I've been accused of being a ballpark food junkie and I admit to having a sweet tooth.

I understand the burger I am about to describe--or some version of it--is available in a number of places, but I first heard about it through a story in the Chicago Sun-Times. Staff reporter Dave Hoekstra, who is a self-proclaimed "huge fan" of minor league baseball, did an entire feature on this version of "Baseball's Best Burger" during a recent trip to St. Louis and nearby Sauget, IL, home of the Frontier League's Gateway Grizzlies. Not bad publicity considering the Sun-Times only has about a half million subscribers.

Hoekstra described the burger this way: "The Black Angus burger is topped with sharp Cheddar cheese and two slices of bacon. The burger is then placed in between each side of a Krispy Kreme glazed donut." Remember what I said about my sweet tooth?

Gateway General Manager Tony Funderburg told Hoekstra "If we have great food, good baseball and affordable prices, we're going to put people in the seats." I have not gotten to Sauget this summer, and the Grizzlies are struggling on the diamond. But they lead the Frontier League in average attendance (4,270) per game. It must be because of Baseball's Best Burger.

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Bob Wirz

Former chief spokesman for Major League Baseball Commissioners Bowie Kuhn and Peter Ueberroth. Six years as publicity director for the Kansas City Royals, and a background in newspaper, radio and television. Started Wirz & Associates, a sports PR and consulting firm, in 1985. Has written extensively on Independent Baseball since 2003.

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About 'My Nebraska'

It seems almost universally accepted that Nebraskans are friendly, hard-working people.

A native son, who eventually transitioned to the East Coast because it was the best avenue to follow his passion of continuing to work in major league baseball, has published a book to share a lifetime of memories of growing up in the Cornhusker state.

You may have guessed it when you saw the title: My Nebraska. Yes, Bob Wirz, now a youthful 85, is sharing his "rich memories of growing up in rural Nebraska" in the 1940s and 1950s in a delightful 136 pages in the book produced by Dorrance Publishing in Pittsburgh, PA.

Wirz, who got to live his passion of working at the highest levels of baseball and later developing his own sports public relations and marketing company, lovingly empties out his memories of everything from counting millions of tiny trees to playing grass-roots baseball where the age of teammates might run from the early teens to the 50s.

The colorful cover of My Nebraska, which features two paintings from Dunning, NE rancher/artist Laron McGinn that depict the beautiful landscape of rural Nebraska and the ranching lifestyle, sets the tone for the 5 x 8 book also filled with meaningful pictures.

It is "a wistful and endearing love letter to Nebraska filled with memories shared by generations raised in small towns throughout the Midwest", praises Shari Veil, who heads up the journalism and mass communications department at the University of Nebraska.

My Nebraska, a 5x8 paperback, is priced at $19.95 plus $4.00 for handling and shipping. Autographed copies may be ordered at www.WirzandAssociates.com