Last Friday, 44,232 Rangers fans (along with a few Astros holdouts) gathered in the great Ballpark in Arlington for a little summer -time baseball. The seats were hot as the sun slowly sank behind home plate. Hotdogs were toted around like carry-on luggage and cold drinks flowed.
In the second inning with the bases loaded, Nelson Cruz lobbed one over the left-field wall for his second grand slam of the year. Since it was the second inning, the pancake stars aligned and every fan was given a coupon for a free Original Grand Slam at Denny's.
For grins (and because I find Denny's to be one of the most entertaining restaurants ever) we redeemed one of those coupons this week. Before we ordered I held my coupon out and asked our waitress if they had seen many of these yet. She laughed, "We had over 3,000 on Saturday alone. You couldn't get in. There was a line around the building."
I did some fuzzy math: 3,000 in one day would be like 125 an hour for 24 hours straight. Is it possible for Denny's to even turn over that many tables in a day? How could they have enough food on hand for that? But, I honestly have no idea how things work at Denny's, so maybe it's possible.
Skeptic, I called a manager later that day. I explained why I was calling and asked again, "About how many coupons did y'all go through last Saturday?"
The manager told me she was there on the morning shift and, "I stopped counting after 300."
"So, about 300 on the morning shift?" I asked.
"No," she said, "300 in just 2 or 3 hours."
So, more fuzzy math, that could be close to 3,000 in a day. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around that many pieces of bacon. But, the manager said the chef always has enough food on-hand and that wasn't an issue at all. Really!? 6,000 eggs!? Where do they even keep 6,000 eggs!?
A spokesperson for Denny's said this is the fourth time a home run has been hit in the second inning this year (the promotion is for any homerun, Cruz's just happened to be a grand slam). There were 12 second inning homers last year and in sum, Denny's has given out more than 650,000 coupons the past two seasons. The only stipulation is customers must buy a drink .
Party tip: at the Denny's in Arlington, if you sit to the right (when you walk in), you can watch the new crazy-ass swing at Six Flags. Best seats in the house, people. Funny thing, only one person was on that particular ride in the picture and he had on a neon green shirt, so must have been a worker. Think when it ended he said, "Yep. Still works."
I'm still befuddled by the fact that they served 3,000 Grand Slams in one day. But, I suppose if anyone can push out a massive amount eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes, it's Denny's.
I hope they all tipped well.
