Hal the Hot Dog Guy

CC SA-BY Casey Pratt ²

Hal Giuliani Gordon ("Hal the Hot Dog Guy") (born August 24, 1987) is an A's hot dog vendor and an economist. He currently sells hot dogs at Oakland Athletics games and is a Ph.D. candidate at UC Berkeley.

Gordon was born and raised in Chicago, where he got his first jobs vending during Cubs and White Sox games. After moving to the Bay Area, he sold hot dogs with the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics and Oakland Raiders (before their relocation to Las Vegas). Since beginning to vend at Oakland Athletics games, Gordon has become an unofficial mascot for the team, leading fans in cheers while selling hot dogs in his signature red-and-white striped vest, for which he has received mentions on Athletics broadcasters and coverage in local news media. ^3,4,5

Gordon credits late Oakland A's vendor Jim Graff for inspiring him to adopt a retro vending aesthetic and focus on entertainment and cheerleading. ¹ Gordon is known for having his own baseball cards and merchandise. During the 2020 MLB season, during which fans (and vendors) were not present at games due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gordon was represented by a cardboard cutout at the Oakland Coliseum and ran an online campaign to raise money for out-of-work vendors. ⁶ Writing in an op-ed, Gordon voiced his support for the proposed Howard Terminal Ballpark. ⁵

Gordon is a Ph.D. candidate studying agriculture and resource economics at UC Berkeley, and reportedly expects to earn his doctorate in 2023. He resides in the Bay Area with his wife, who is an evictions protection attorney. Despite his profession as a hot dog vendor, Gordon is a vegetarian. ^1,4

Links and References

1. Vendi Vidi Vici: An Interview with A’s Vendor Hal the Hot Dog Guy uni-watch.com May 2, 2019
2. Hal Gordon on Wikipedia
3. Meet Oakland Athletics' 'Hal the Hot Dog Guy,' the team's unofficial mascot Mercury News August 7, 2022
4. Roving A's hot-dog vendor working on PhD, is also vegetarian KTVU August 14, 2022
5. An Oakland A's hot dog vendor, PhD candidate in economics weighs in on Howard Terminal plan SFGate June 21, 2021
6. Hal the Hot Dog Guy Is Baseball's Real MVP This Year Men's Health October 7, 2020

• Why This Hot Dog Vendor Is the Oakland Coliseum’s Biggest Hit KQED June 9, 2022
• Oakland Coliseum's Best-Known Hot Dog Vendor Serves Up Frank Takes on A's KQED October 5, 2022
• Hal the Hot Dog Guy on Twitter
• Hal Giuliani Gordon publications indexed by Google Scholar
• Hal Gordon at the University of California, Berkeley