Empanadas Here! Get Your Red Hot Empanadas!

Over the past decade, Major League Baseball has experienced its largest shift in ethnicity since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Numbering about two in ten in the mid-1990s, Latin American players now constitute about 30% of the rosters in the big leagues, and nearly half of the 2006 All-Star players were Latin American. The trend should continue: a 2005 New York Times article stated that almost half of all minor leaguers are Latino. The growing Latin American presence in baseball is not confined to just the field.

Yankee Stadium recently got a Latin-style food concession called Salsa on the Go. A joint venture of Bronx native Daniel Garcia and Goya Foods, the concession offers Yankees fans the choice of picking up an empanada and plantains between innings, instead of a footlong hotdog or giant pretzel. Garcia, who grew up in Hunts Point a few miles from Yankee Stadium, owns Salsa Catering, where the food for games is prepared at the business's headquarters on 3rd Ave. in the Bronx before delivery to the stadium.

Sports-food blog Scoreboard Gourmet has a brief mention of Salsa on the Go and notes that the lines for the concession were relatively short in comparison to other vendors, most likely because it doesn't sell beer. We suggest that Salsa on the Go sponsor an intra-inning extreme eating contest to see how many empanaditas can be consumed as the Yanks and the away team trade the field. Salsa on the Go is located in Yankee Stadium's Section 20 at the left field food court.

(Concession Stand, by specmotor at flickr)