The next item the West Michigan Whitecaps might want to consider selling at Fifth Third Ballpark concession stands is antacids. Or cholesterol medication.
That is because their newest menu option is a 4,800-calorie mouthful.
The team's Fifth Third Burger recently garnered attention from ESPN's "SportsCenter" and NBC's "The Today Show," in addition to Web sites and blogs across the country.
Here's what fans can expect from the Fifth Third Burger:
Start with an 8-inch sesame seed bun that requires 1 pound of dough and is made specially for the Whitecaps by Nantucket Baking Co. of Grand Rapids.
Rex Larsen | The Grand Rapids PressTodd Guyer, food and beverage manager for the West Michigan Whitecaps, adds a layer of Fritos to the Fifth Third Burger.
Spoon on nearly a cup of chili and place five one-third pound hamburger patties on top of that. (Get it, 5/3 pounds of beef for the Fifth Third Burger?)
Add five slices of American cheese and liberal doses of salsa, nacho cheese and Fritos. Top it off with lettuce, tomato and sour cream, and you have a burger that can be sliced with a pizza cutter and feed four people for $20. Jalapenos are optional.
If a single person can consume the entire 4-pound finished product in one sitting, the team plans to give him or her a special T-shirt.
"Besides being unique and large and bizarre, it tastes good," Lane said. "I'm sure there are going to be crazies that come down and try to eat the entire thing."
This is not the Whitecaps' first unique menu option. In recent years, the team has offered everything from deep-fried Twinkies and deep-fried Pepsi to entire turkey drumsticks.
Each offseason, team officials brainstorm ideas for their next culinary creation. Potential ingredients for this season included cactus, sausage gravy, Spam, fried eggs and grape jelly. Fortunately, not all on one sandwich.
Eventually, the Whitecaps settled on the Fifth Third Burger because it consisted mostly of items that easily can be found at a ballpark.
But what about those health implications?
In addition to more than 4,800 calories -- potentially the most caloric item ever offered at a ballpark -- the Fifth Third Burger contains nearly 300 grams of fat, 744 milligrams of cholesterol and more than 10,000 milligrams of sodium. The smell alone might be 25 calories.
