A year after the Phillies killed Dollar Dog Night, here’s a look at how BOGO Dog Night is going

It’s been about a year since the Phillies’ controversial decision to replace Dollar Dog Night with a buy-one, get-one promotion. Instead of one dog for one dollar, now, it’s two dogs for $4.99.

The decision came after fans in the crowd started throwing the hot dogs at one another, and concourses were clogged with lines of people waiting for hot dogs.

“It wasn’t just the throwing,” John Weber, senior vice president of Phillies ticket operations and projects, said at the time. “It’s the concourse, the crowds of everybody being at the same X amount of stands. But obviously, you know, the throwing was a little bit of a tipping point.”

» READ MORE: In memory of Dollar Dog Night, a beloved tradition that met a sudden end at 27

Many fans had resigned themselves to their fate after the final Dollar Dog Night, when a fan’s attempt at a hot dog eating contest turned into a food fight, with fans throwing hot dogs off the upper decks down onto the lower level and across sections, leading to multiple fan ejections.

“We’re Philly fans, we throw things, it’s what we do,” one fan said before a recent BOGO night against the Washington Nationals. “I think it’s a good thing that it’s part of our culture, as long as we’re not throwing it at people. If we’re just throwing in the general direction, it’s fine. But that happened, and I was like, ‘Man, they’re definitely going to do something about this.’”

The Phillies have had five “Hatfield Phillies Franks BOGO Nights” since the decision, with the sixth coming on Monday against the Cardinals. For many, it still hurts. “R.I.P. Dollar Dog Night” T-shirts were a staple around the Bank, but some understood why it had to go.

“I miss Dollar Dog Night, but I get why they got rid of that. I like this, too,” Bellmawr resident Bob Bangs said while waiting in line to order six dogs for his family.

If the goal of eliminating Dollar Dog Night was to cut down on massive lines, it looks like the Phillies succeeded. Lines were as few as two-deep on the concourse during the last BOGO Night on April 29, and fans could wait as little as two minutes to purchase hot dogs.

Even at the larger brick-and-mortar windows near the concourse entrances, the lines moved at a brisk pace, with ballpark employees selling tray after tray of the hot dogs piled up behind the counter. Many stands that aren’t usually hot dog vendors had been commandeered by hot dogs for the night, with makeshift “BOGO Hot Dog” signs along the side walls.

“The last time I was here [for Dollar Dog Night], the lines were so long you couldn’t even get them,” said Dan Yocom of Glen Mills, although he didn’t mind the long lines. “If that doesn’t tell you they should still be around, I don’t know what does.”

» READ MORE: 40 years before eliminating Dollar Dog Night, the Phillies had a chicken frank controversy

Yocom said he wasn’t going to buy any hot dogs, to protest the decision to get rid of Dollar Dog Night.

The lines picked up a bit by the 6:40 first pitch, but there weren’t the multi-inning lines of old (even with the pitch clock). Fans could also pick up a dog from vendors on the concourse, who packed them into cases and roamed around, usually with little to no line, which Fishtown resident and Rowan Medical School student Eleni Rodriguez and her friend, Maria Clauser, quickly took advantage of.

“If you’re waiting in line, you’re a rookie,” Rodriguez said. “We’re professionals. We know how to work this thing.”

Rodriguez and Clauser each carried three hot dogs, which cost them $15 total. Would they have bought more hot dogs if they’d still been one dollar? Absolutely, Rodriguez said, but it only mildly dampened their fun. The two friends wore hot dog sunglasses and hot dog earrings, and only came to the game because they loved the hot dogs.

“I’m a poor college student,” Rodriguez said. “This is great for me.”

» READ MORE: Phillies Dollar Dog Nights: The good, the bad, and the ‘Pukemon’

There was no shortage of dogs around the Bank. The tin foil that came wrapped around each dog was strewn everywhere across the concourse and the seats, and there certainly wasn’t a shortage of fans. The ballpark was nearly sold out for the weeknight game against the Nationals, with 38,387 fans.

The Phillies sold more than 35,000 hot dogs on each of the BOGO Hot Dog nights, for nearly 75,000 BOGO dogs this year. That’s more than $87,000 worth of hot dogs on each of the Phillies’ specialty nights.

As for the dogs?

“They’re just OK, but it’s the ballpark,” Bangs said. “You’ve got to get them.”