Competitive eating legend Joey Chestnut decimates doughnuts at Hudson Valley Renegades baseball game

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Competitive eater Joey Chestnut is interviewed prior to an appearance on Friday at Heritage Financial Park, home the the New York Yankees High-A affiliate, the Hudson Valley Renegades. (Kyle Adams/For the Times Union)


WAPPINGERS FALLS - "Bite, chew, swallow - and don't forget to breathe."

Those are the four simple steps that world-renowned competitive eater Joey Chestnut has used to become an 18-time Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest champion.

On Friday night, Chestnut appeared at Heritage Financial Park, the home of the Hudson Valley Renegades, as part of his competitive eating tour at minor league baseball parks across the country. The Renegades, the High-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, have an alternative team identity, the Cider Donuts, which served as the inspiration for Friday's eating challenge, as Chestnut competed against several fans and team personnel.

It wasn't much of a competition, as Chestnut blew away the rest of the field. In the five-minute contest, Chestnut consumed 53 apple cider doughnuts - 40 more than two of his challengers who tied for second.

"As soon as I tasted the first one and I was feeling them out, I was like, ‘40 (are) going down,'" Chestnut said. "I just had to stay calm and not make any weird mistakes. I had a couple burps in the middle."

The Renegades also won the baseball game, prior to the eating contest, defeating the Jersey Shore BlueClaws 6-4.

The stop in the Hudson Valley was Chestnut's seventh of a nine-ballpark tour. The series began in April in Kansas with the Wichita Wind Surge, and he has since visited the Oklahoma City Comets (Oklahoma), Birmingham Barons (Alabama), Reading Fightin Phils (Pennsylvania), St. Paul Saints (Minnesota) and Memphis Redbirds (Tennessee).

"(Eating at) minor league baseball (ballparks) has been fun," Chestnut said. "Baseball fans and eating just go together. It's been a great time traveling around to the different ballparks."

Chestnut, 42, won this year's Fourth of July hot dog eating contest by consuming 66 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Throughout his eating career - which began in Reno, Nev., in a lobster-eating contest - Chestnut has consumed a wide array of food that has included ice cream sandwiches, croquettes and "some wild ones … I wish I could forget."

Like?

"I remember I did cow-brain tacos once," Chestnut said. "It was at a zombie pub-crawl in Minnesota. It was gnarly."

While Renegades players were aware Chestnut would be making a postgame appearance for the eating contest, they were not aware he planned on stopping by the team's clubhouse pregame.

"They knew he was coming to the ballpark, but they didn't know he was going to come talk to them," Renegades manager Aaron Bossi said. "It was a surprise. I kind of treated the team with a world-renowned competitor.

"(Chestnut) is known as the greatest in the world for (competitive eating) and I figured surprising the guys would be exciting."

Bossi saw it as a valuable conversation for a group of young ballplayers with aspirations of making it to the highest level.

"There were a lot of questions about his preparation, and how he deals with competition and adversity," Bossi said. "That's such a good parallel to baseball, since these guys are out here facing adversity every night. It's great to hear (how) even the greats get nervous. He is tried and true to his routines, and building trust in that."

Prior to the doughnut challenge, Chestnut spent the early part of the night interacting with fans.

"To hear (fans') stories of how they've watched me over the years, it's really nice to talk to people. They tell me what to do while I'm in town and it's really cool," Chestnut said. "I grew up (planning) to be an engineer. I never thought I'd be talking to a guy who tells me that he watched me with his dad, (and) now he's watching me with his kid. It's really, really cool to know that I'm a part of people's Fourth of July."

There are two more stops scheduled on Chestnut's minor league baseball tour after his visit to Dutchess County. He will visit the Yankees Triple-A affiliate the Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre Raidriders on Aug 7, before concluding the tour on Aug. 28 at the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

"Minor league baseball fans are the best," Chestnut said. "I've been really lucky that the baseball teams have been amazing and that all the food has been super good."

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This article originally published at Competitive eating legend Joey Chestnut decimates doughnuts at Hudson Valley Renegades baseball game.

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