It will give you paws to see just how many dogs the White Sox hosted to set a Guinness World Record
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Bark at the Park has become a venerable tradition in ballparks around the league. Fans dress their furry friends in team-specific gear and haul them to the ballpark for a night of photo-ops, barking, sniffing and getting to know each other -- and the dogs have fun, too.
Jokes aside, what was accomplished at the Indians-White Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field on Tuesday night was something really special. You see, they wanted a LOT of dogs. So many wound up at the game, in fact, that the Sox set a Guiness World Record for the most dogs attending a sporting event:
There were dogs in tutus:
Dogs fully dressed and ready to go play a few innings:
And just some downright impossibly cute dogs:
So, how many dogs at a stadium constitutes a new record? A ton, according to the Sox press release:
Reviewed by GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Adjudicator Michael Empric, the White Sox earned the title with 1,122 dogs present for the game in designated areas of the ballpark.
The team already commemorated this historic night with a framed document, so you know it's legit:
That this all took place at a White Sox game is entirely appropriate when you step back and realize they were the first Major League team to sponsor a dog-friendly day at the stadium back in 1996.
Could White Sox center fielder Adam Eaton hear all those dogs clattering about in the stands? As he told MLB.com's Scott Merkin after the game, yes:
"... at least in the outfield I do. 'Who Let The Dogs Out?' That song was stuck in my head. I feel like half the dogs out there were singing it for some odd reason. They were a little noisy but it's kind of fun. It brings a different atmosphere to the ballpark. I think that's one of the beauties of The Cell, really nothing is off limits. That's the beauty of it. What, we had 1,100 dogs at the ballpark tonight? Bring different viewers to the ballpark. A lot of fun."
Tyler Saladino's husky, Luna, was also in the house for the fun. And yes, he could definitely hear it all as well:
"Yeah. You could hear them the whole time. It was just funny hearing them yelling, like they didn't know what was going on. They were just yelling back and forth at each other. That was a fun game though."
Not a ruff night at the ol' ballyard, considering the White Sox wound up winning, 8-1, too.