There's an Insane Contest at Citizens Bank Park That Nobody Knows About

Citizens Bank Ballpark, home to the Philadelphia Phillies, is still considered a great venue to watch a baseball game in today's MLB. Between the comfort and views of the seats, and some of the best food you can find, Phillies fans flock to watch their team at home.

Naturally, the team from Philadelphia's ballpark is known for one food item in particular: the Philly Cheesesteak. And those cheesesteaks have spurred an insane contest happening at Citizens Bank Park night in and night out, that nobody knows about.

The contest started unofficially thanks to a visit from former Detroit Tigers All-Star Dmitri Young. "It wasn't even a dare," Young relayed to MLB.com reporter Matt Monagan. "I was just hungry." But, back in the early 2000s, the bulky slugger consumed 11 of the ballpark's cheesesteaks over the course of a three-game series.

Slowly, but surely, this turned into the wackiest contest in sports. The contest is simply, but has evolved into a series of categories over the years with one goal in mind; consuming the most cheesesteaks in a given amount of time.

Phillies News

Monagan detailed some of the categories the visiting players and coaches developed over the years. There's the "Individual 3-Day" category, lining up with a traditional baseball three-game series. Colorado Rockies performance coach Mike Jasperson owns the record, stuffing home 21.5 in three days.

There's also individual four-day and one-day categories. Jasperson holds the four-day record with 25, while Washington Nationals infielder Adrián Sanchez crowns the single day title with 10.5.

There is one team category for cheesesteaks consumed by one visiting club in a single day. The New York Mets once smashed home 103 sandwiches as a club.

One interesting note is the presence of bullpen catchers on the leaderboard. Three bullpen catchers hold a home on this list, including two New York Mets in Eric Langill and Dave Racaniello.

The cheesesteaks will continue to flood to the visiting clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park as the oddest tradition in baseball roars on.

Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.