Image of Ron Swoboda Appears on Hot Dog Purchased at Man's First Mets Game

YONKERS, N.Y. (Sportsman's Daily Wire Service) -- Ted Sobeck is 49. In his four-decade-long devotion to the New York Mets, he thought he'd seen it all. That is until last week. That's when something he calls "extraordinarily paranormal" occurred.

The Yonkers, N.Y., resident says an image of a former Mets great suddenly appeared on piece of treasured memorabilia.

Photo Illustration/The Sportsman's Daily (Provided to CBSSports.com)

Sobeck went to his first baseball game in 1966 with his dad, Chuck. The pair took in a Mets-Astros game at Shea Stadium on "Five Cent Weiner Day." Ted says the memory of that day is still very fresh in his mind. To help preserve the moment, he wanted a piece of team history that would last a lifetime. Sobeck has plenty of Mets collectibles, but his most prized possession from that afternoon is the hot dog he's managed to safeguard for 42 years.

"That dog is still wienerful," the burly limo driver joked referring to a Mets' promotion. That day the team's mascot, Mr. Met held up a sign claiming the five cent dogs were "wienerful."

"I've had the dog in storage for years and only twice have taken a nibble," said Sobeck. "The first time was in 1973 after the Mets clinched the National League pennant. I took a second bite in 1979 when they traded Nino Espinosa to the Phillies."

Sobeck considered taking a third bite for the first time in 29 years just last week in anticipation of an exciting upcoming 2008 season. "I'm pretty jacked up with Johan Santana coming here," Sobeck added. "That's when I made the startling discovery." There in plain view was the image of long-retired Mets outfielder Ron Swoboda.

"Swoboda was one of my heroes on the '69 team," a still-stunned Sobeck offered. "When I saw his face on that wienie, I nearly soiled myself. OK, you want full disclosure? I actually I did soil myself."

Dr. Heinrich Mueller, a Berlin-based paranormal investigator and amateur baseball historian, confirmed the image is that of Swoboda.

"At first, I thought it could have been Lee Mazzilli, but the hairline was all wrong," said Mueller. "I'll bet you credits to navy beans it's Swoboda, or my name isn't the exceedingly clichéd German-Swiss hybrid eccentric scientist name they gave me."

In neighborhoods near Shea Stadium the news was met with mass, spontaneous genuflecting among hundreds of fervent Mets fans, many of whom consider Swoboda the Patron Saint of Miraculous Sliding Catches. When news of the event reached Barcelona, Spain an elderly woman claimed to have regained her eyesight after 52 years. However, locals insist her glasses were just dirty.

"Swoboda was special," said Spike Margolin, a 54-year-old plumber from Queens. "It's only fitting that he appear on some guy's hot dog. When I heard the news, I got a huge lump in my throat."

Margolin's wife informed the Sportsman's Daily that the lump her husband is referring to is an inoperable tumor lodged in his trachea.

For more satirical stories like this, check out The Sportsman's Daily home page.