Hal Giuliani Gordon (born August 24, 1987) is an American economist and former hot dog vendor. He is best known for selling hot dogs at

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

games from 2015 to 2022, during which time he became known as an unofficial mascot for the team.

Career

Gordon was born and raised in

Riverwoods, Illinois Riverwoods is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It was established on the banks of the Des Plaines River in 1959 by local steel magnate Jay Peterson. Per the 2020 census, the population was 3,790. The corporate headquarters of ...

, in the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

. His first jobs were selling hot dogs during

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

games at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

and

U.S. Cellular Field Guaranteed Rate Field is a baseball stadium located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It serves as the home stadium of the Chicago White Sox, one of the city's two Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, and is owned by the state ...

, which he began in the summer of 2005 between high school and college. As he moved from city to city, Gordon took on vending jobs in Chicago (selling during Cubs, White Sox and Blackhawks games), Washington, D.C. (at Nationals games) and, from 2015, the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

with the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

(before their relocation to Las Vegas). While he worked at Oakland Athletics games, Gordon became known as 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 broadcasts and coverage in local news media. Gordon credited late Oakland A's vendor James Graff for inspiring him to adopt a retro vending aesthetic and focus on entertainment and cheerleading. Gordon was known for having his own baseball cards and merchandise. For the

2020 Major League Baseball season The 2020 Major League Baseball season began on July 23 and ended on September 27 with only 60 games amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The full 162-game regular season was planned to begin on March 26, but the pandemic caused Major League Baseball (ML ...

, during which fans (and vendors) were not present at games due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Gordon was represented by a cardboard cutout at the Oakland Coliseum and ran an online campaign to raise money for out-of-work vendors. Writing in an op-ed, Gordon voiced his support for the proposed Howard Terminal Ballpark. Gordon did not return to vend for the 2023 season, instead choosing to focus on his academic career. Gordon is a public critic of the planned

Oakland Athletics relocation to Las Vegas The Oakland Athletics relocation to Las Vegas is an ongoing effort by ownership of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB) to relocate the franchise from Oakland, California, to Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada. The team has been based i ...

. Gordon has argued that Athletics owner

John Fisher John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic bishop, cardinal, and theologian. Fisher was also an academic and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI. Fisher was executed by o ...

"murdered baseball" in Oakland and has characterized the franchise as " iewingtheir fans as another one of their enemies." Gordon was involved in organizing the "Reverse Boycott" protest against the Athletics' proposed relocation.

Personal life

Gordon earned a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in December 2022. He resides in San Francisco with his wife, who is an evictions defense attorney. Despite working as a hot dog vendor, Gordon is a vegetarian.

References

External links

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Hal Gordon
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Hal 1987 births Living people People in retailing Baseball people from Illinois People from Chicago People from Riverwoods, Illinois Baseball people from California People from Oakland, California Businesspeople from San Francisco Academics from San Francisco Economists from Illinois Economists from California 21st-century American economists American agricultural economists UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources alumni McCourt School of Public Policy alumni University of Chicago alumni Oakland Athletics Hot dog vendors