Mike Walsh and his cousin Kate Hopkins stood on the sidelines of the Brooklyn Cyclones minor-league baseball game. It was the seventh-inning stretch, and they had an important job to do.

“Bring out the hot dogs!” said a man standing near the pitcher’s mound. He wore a straw hat and bright blue jacket. “It’s Mets fans versus Yankees fans in the Subway Series Hot-Dog-Eating Contest!”

“We got ’em!” Kate called back as thousands of fans in the stadium cheered. Kate and Mike rushed across the Cyclones’ infield, carrying huge trays of Nathan’s Famous hot dogs.

They were headed for the two long tables on either side of the announcer. Behind each table were three Mets or Yankees fans chosen from the crowd.

Kate ran up to the table on the left. Two women and a man, each wearing blue and orange Mets shirts, sat behind it. At the front of the table was a big banner that read GO, METS! Kate placed ten hot dogs in front of each competitor. “Good luck!” she said to the three contestants. “Try to eat fast! I want one of the Mets fans to win!”

“And I want a Yankees fan to win!” Mike called from the other table. The sign on that table read GO, YANKEES! Mike had placed ten hot dogs in front of each person on his side. The contestants were each wearing pin-striped Yankees jerseys. The crowd cheered.

Mike and Kate met near the third-base line to watch. It was Friday afternoon, and they were in New York City for a big Subway Series between the Mets and the Yankees that started that night. The teams would be playing each other three times in the next three days.

The games were called a Subway Series because fans could reach both the Mets’ and the Yankees’ stadiums using the New York City subway. Before the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants moved to California from New York in the 1950s, they had also played the New York Yankees in Subway Series games.

Kate’s mom had driven Mike and Kate down to New York City from their homes in Cooperstown, New York, the day before. She was a sports reporter and was in the press box working. Mrs. Hopkins had arranged for Mike and Kate to be part of the Cyclones’ hot-dog-eating contest.

The Cyclones were a minor-league team for the New York Mets. Their stadium was right next to the ocean, in the neighborhood of Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. During the summer, lots of people in New York City went to Coney Island for fun. Nearby was a wide wooden boardwalk with rides, games, and food stands. Roller coasters zipped back and forth just beyond the stadium’s outfield wall, and waves broke on the sandy beach outside the ballpark.

The announcer running the contest waved his straw hat in the air. “Whoever eats the most hot dogs wins four front-row seats to all Subway Series games!” he said.

Mike nudged Kate with his elbow. He rubbed his stomach in a circular motion. “I’ll bet I could eat the most hot dogs if they’d let me,” he said.

Kate shook her head. Her brown ponytail bobbed back and forth through the hole in her blue baseball cap. “It’s only for adults!” she said. “But let’s buy some hot dogs when we’re done!”

Ball boys and girls finished bringing out bottles of ketchup, mustard, and relish and placed big jugs of water on the tables. According to the rules, the contestants could eat the hot dogs plain or with condiments, but they also had to eat the buns.

Behind the tables, the contestants prepared to eat. Some took swigs of water. Others slathered their hot dogs with mustard or relish. One woman rolled her head from side to side and made chewing motions with her jaw. A man rubbed his belly and took deep breaths.

Mike glanced at Kate. “I’m rooting for the Yankees fans to win,” he said. “Because Babe Ruth played for them.”

“Well, I’m rooting for the Mets side because my father likes them,” Kate said. Her parents were divorced. Kate’s father lived in Los Angeles.

“Why not root for the Yankees, like your mom?” Mike asked.

“Because my dad works for the Dodgers!” Kate said. “After both the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants moved to California in the 1950s, the Yankees were the only baseball team left in New York. So when Major League Baseball created the Mets in 1962, they wanted to honor the memory of the Giants and the Dodgers.”

Kate pointed to a Mets logo on her program. It was a round logo that showed the outline of a bridge in front of a bunch of city buildings. “See how the Mets logo is blue and orange?”

“Um, yeah,” Mike said. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“It’s actually Dodger blue and Giants orange!” Kate said. “The Mets used colors from the old Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants for their uniforms and logos!”

The announcer counted down for the start of the contest. “Five…four…three…two…one…HOT DOGS!” he yelled.

The Mets and Yankees fans behind the tables stuffed one hot dog after another into their mouths. Some dipped the hot dogs in water and swallowed them in two bites, and then stuffed the rolls in separately. Others simply took big bites of the hot dogs with the buns. Some put mustard on them, but most didn’t.

“One minute left!” the announcer yelled.

More hot dogs disappeared from the table. A few contestants had stopped and were holding their stomachs as if they felt sick.

“METS! METS! METS! METS!” the crowd chanted. In the background, roller coasters zoomed up and down as their riders screamed.

The announcer checked his watch and held up his hand. “Five…four…three…two…one…STOP!” he yelled. He swung his hand to end the contest. “Put down your hot dogs! Take your last swallow.”

“Who won?” Kate asked.

The announcer walked from one end of the tables to the other. He counted the leftover hot dogs in front of each person. Then he turned to the crowd.

“We have a winner with NINE hot dogs eaten!” he said.

“Come on, Yankees!” Mike said.

“Let’s go, Mets!” Kate said.

The announcer glanced back at both tables. It seemed like he was counting the hot dogs one more time. He turned to the crowd. “The winner of this year’s free tickets will be rooting for the…”