Petition to reinstate Phillies’ Dollar Dog Night has fans citing a ‘God given right for encased meat’
Locals are enraged by the Phillies' cancelation of Dollar Dog Night and they're mobilizing for change. A petition launched Thursday has already collected thousands of signatures.
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Locals were enraged by the Phillies’ cancellation of Dollar Dog Night. Now, they’re mobilizing for change.
Just hours after the team confirmed it was ending the promotion and swapping it for a $5 BOGO deal, a petition dropped to reinstate the 27-year-old tradition. It has already collected thousands of signatures and garnered attention across social media.
Local TikTok personality, Alex Pearlman — known online as @Pearlmania500 — has something to do with the traction. He made a video about the tragic turn of events and shared the petition link with his more than 2 million followers.
“[Phanatic] is riding around with a bazooka launching dogs at us. We throw one dog back, now we gotta pay two-and-a-half times the price for a dog?” Pearlman said in his TikTok.
His cousin and longtime Phillies fan Christian McGovern, is also deeply invested. To the point that he thinks he may be partially to blame for the promotion’s cancellation after partaking last season’s infamous food fight.
The lore as Pearlman tells it, is that after McGovern had smashed 13 $1 dogs in the outfield during a matchup against the Miami Marlins in April. Then, someone rows above dared him to eat a 14th and spiraled a glizzy in his direction. Others followed suit, pelting hot dogs from all ends. Phillies leadership said last year’s “unfortunate incident” is part of what prompted the change.
McGovern started the petition Thursday afternoon.
“It’s a tradition. I love it. I look forward to Dollar Dog Night all year round,” McGovern told 6ABC. “When the schedule comes out the first Tuesday in April, I know it’s Dollar Dog Night and we see who they’re playing and we buy tickets right away.”
As of Friday morning, the petition has collected over 6,000 signatures. And supporters’ comments are as brilliant as you’d expect.
From the rational: “It’s an affordable option for families.”
To the outrageous: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that not all baseball fans are created equal, that Phillies fans are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of $1 GLIZZIES.”
“If you take it away, you prove that the Yankees AND the Red Sox are better than you,” one signer wrote. For the record, this comment doesn’t appear to be based on other teams’ promotions, but just general vibes.
A comprehensive list of MLB teams that offer $1 hot dog nights isn’t freely available. The Pittsburgh Pirates are still honoring their Wednesday home game dollar dog night promotion this season. Other teams including the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers also offer dollar dogs.
“A man has a God-given right for encased meat for a dollar at least once per season,” wrote another petition signer.
There’s even Dollar Dog Night and mourning Dollar Dog Night merch making the rounds.
As for why it means so much to him, Pearlman called Dollar Dog Night “the last bastion of traditional prices in the rising sea of inflation.” Joking aside, it’s also a cheap way for his wife — who has celiac disease — to eat something gluten free at Citizen’s Bank Park for a dollar (hold the bun).