Actually, They Should Be Called Hot Dachs

Ever wonder how hot dogs got their name? It presumably happened in 1901, at New York’s Polo Grounds, on a cold, spring day. A concessionaire was losing money selling ice cream and soda so he sent his salesman to buy up what, at the time, were called dachshund sausages.

The vendors then went through the stands with portable hot-water tanks yelling, “Get your dachshund sausages while they’re red hot!”

In the press box, sports cartoonist Tad Dorgan was nearing his deadline and desperate for an idea. Hearing the vendors, he drew a cartoon of a barking dachshund sausage nestled in a roll. Unsure how to spell dachshund, he simply wrote “Hot Dog” and an American tradition was born.

Trivia time: Now that he’s playing for Atlanta, Kenny Lofton could become the fifth player to steal 50 bases in each league. Who are the others?

Fringe element: Leigh Steinberg was asked on MSNBC what he would do if he was Dennis Rodman’s agent.

“There’s obviously a market out there for people who like tattoos, who like earrings, who like piercing and the rest of it.”

Sulking city: The Boston Trading Co. has a deal for Red Sox fans angry at pitcher Roger Clemens for leaving the club as a free agent.

The retailer is offering $25 gift certificates to the first 250 people in each of its three Boston-area stores who turn in their Roger Clemens baseball cards.

Age game: Minnesota Timberwolves Vice President Kevin McHale, on management’s dilemma: “When you’ve got players who are 20, you wish they were 30. And when you’ve got players who are 35, you wish they were 25.”

Same note: From The Good Doctor in Inside Sports magazine:

Q: Mike Ditka will be the coach when the Saints go marching in again. Why is New Orleans a perfect town for Ditka?

A: Because he’s always been good at blowing his own horn.

Redundant: Headline in the Trenton (N.J.) Times: “Waterski Accident Ruled Accidental.”

Looking back: On this day in 1983, Lorenzo Charles scored on a dunk after Derek Whittenberg’s 35-foot desperation shot fell short to give North Carolina State a 54-52 victory over Houston in the NCAA championship game.

Note: The Wolfpack finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season standings with an 8-6 record but won the ACC tournament to get into the NCAA playoffs.

Trivia answer: Vince Coleman, Tim Raines, Otis Nixon and Brett Butler.

And finally: Paul Hoynes in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “A reporter was talking to Jay Buhner last week about drug use in pro sports. Seattle closer Norm Charlton overheard the conversation, stood up and threw his stool into Paul Sorrento’s locker about 15 feet away.

“He grabbed two more stools and threw them around the clubhouse. Then he sat down and told the surprised reporter, ‘Sorry, steroid rage.’ ”