HARRY M. STEVENS helped shape the atmosphere of modern sports by turning concessions into a big business and major part of the ballpark experience. 

A British immigrant, Stevens became obsessed with baseball upon arrival to America, inventing baseball’s first scorecard, a format still used to this day. The steel worker began selling his scorecards at minor league games, eventually expanding his business into peddling refreshments. Sales boomed, and by the late 19th century, his business had secured exclusive concession contracts at major sporting venues throughout the country. 

Stevens is often credited with inventing the hot dog. According to legend, at a New York Giants game in 1901, Stevens ran out of the wax paper that his sausages came wrapped in and ordered his staff to start serving the sausages in buns instead. The result, nicknamed “dachshund sandwiches,” were a big hit. A newspaper cartoonist unsure of his spelling called the new delicacy a “hot dog” in a cartoon, and the name stuck.