The Chicago White Sox drew 1,122 dogs for their annual Dog Day Bark at the Park to set a Guinness World Record for most dogs attending a sporting event.
Per the Chicago Tribune, in order to obtain the record “The Sox needed a minimum of 1,000 dogs in attendance…and the dogs had to remain in their outfield seats for a period of 10 minutes, starting at the top of the third inning, in order for the record to count.”
The Chicago White Sox had a clock in the outfield that counted the ten minutes down and they announced in the sixth inning that the record had been reached. Tyler Saladino told the Tribune that he could hear the dogs throughout the game. “It was just funny hearing them yelling, like they didn’t know what was going on,” Saladino said. “They were just yelling back and forth at each other. That was a fun game though.”
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Saladino’s Husky Luna was at the game and she apparently had fun ““She doesn’t get too loud,” Saladino said. “She knows not to bark, so that probably wasn’t her out there. … But she knows something’s going on because she was getting treats yesterday on the field, treats today on the field. She’s loving life right now.”
The White Sox were the first team in Major League Baseball to have a Dog Day. They have a very creative marketing department. The White Sox also created the turn back the clock game that was first held in 1990 and hold an Elvis night complete with Elvis impersonators parachuting into the stadium ala Honeymoon in Vegas and fireworks set to Elvis music.
White Sox Vice President of Sales and Marketing Brooks Boyer talked about the record to the Chicago Sun-Times. “We received a tremendous turnout for our four-legged friends tonight,…We are thrilled that the White Sox dog-friendly event has become a storied piece of our tradition, especially as we add a milestone with tonight’s ‘most dogs attending a sporting event’ title through GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™.”
The record was verified by Guinness World Record Adjudicator Michael Empric.
In writing! pic.twitter.com/YGVYATZSKx
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 14, 2016
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The White Sox allowed the fans to bring their four-legged best friends on to the field before the game and had treats for them. Much like the Turn Back the Clock games, dog day has spread through most of the major league franchises. Some teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates hold dog day/night a few times per year.