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How a baseball team combined pizza and hot dogs to make the Frankenslice

Sam Hansen walks into a convenience store around the corner from a minor-league baseball stadium, grabs a Mountain Dew and a Red Bull out of the fridge then walks to the counter and asks for a large styrofoam cup full of ice.

He takes the cup, then pours in Tapatio hot sauce and lemon juice.

“What are you doing?” asks the guy behind the counter, puzzled.

Hansen opens the Mountain Dew, pours that into the cup and then does the same with the Red Bull. He mixes it all up and looks back at the cashier.

“Needed something extra today,” he says, before walking back to the ballpark.

Is it any surprise that this is the man who dreamt up the Frankenslice, the latest outlandish food mash-up to come from the minor leagues? The name says it all — it’s a slice of pizza with a hot dog stuffed in the crust, a frank in a slice.

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The Frankenslice will be sold Thursday night when the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies, the affiliate of the Houston Astros, host the Nashville Sounds at Fresno’s Chukchansi Park. As if often the case in the minors, the games come second to the promotions. Teams dream up a litany of ways to attract fans, because “watch the stars of tomorrow” only works so many times. Of late, food has been a focus, with minor-league teams concocting all sorts of menu items that would seem more fit for the county fair.

(Big League Stew)
(Big League Stew)

The Frankenslice, though, is actually a ballpark food when you think about it. Pizza and hot dogs are too popular concession items, this just combines them.

“It’s a combo meal in every slice,” says Hansen, the director of marketing for the Grizzlies, though his business card actually says “marketing ninja.”

This one has done well on a marketing level. The Frankenslice has hit all the major sports blogs, even getting featured on ESPN, MSNBC and “Good Morning America.” It has that, “Hey, look at this” appeal that transcends sports. The reaction is either, “Wow. I must have that.” Or “Gross, who thought of that?”

Well, a guy who mixes Mountain Dew, Red Bull and hot sauce. When Hansen eats at a buffet, he looks at it as a challenge — use the building blocks in front of him to create something crazy. This time, he put that to use in a baseball setting.

“I’m a marketer and I look at marketing by design,” Hansen says. “I’ve designed t-shirts, I’ve designed graphics. Food is just another palette for me to design with.”

Lest you think this is just some sloppily put together stoner invention, the Frankenslice actually takes more of an artisan approach. No, seriously.

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The Grizzlies recruited Chef Justin Dukes to make the Frankenslice outside of the normal ballpark food assembly line. He’s a local barbecue expert and restaurateur who has also sold his tri-tip sandwiches at the stadium. When he made smoked lasagna for the press box one night this season, Hansen knew Dukes could help him bring his Frankenslice idea to the masses.

Dukes makes his own zesty sauce, rolls the hot dogs into the pizza dough and cooks the pizzas in his 18-foot smoker over grape wood. They cook at 500 degrees and have a smokey flavor that takes both the frank and the slice a step beyond your average ballpark meal. Not that anything was ever going to be average about a slice of pizza with a hot dog stuffed in the crust, but the smoker is a nice touch.

The next big question: How do you eat it? Opinions differ. Some early samplers maintain hot dog first, some say pizza first. One brave sole rolled the entire thing up like a burrito and mashed-up the mash-up.

Doesn't matter too much really. Any way the Frankenslice is consumed, it's a monster.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!