![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285354565-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPHILADELPHIA \u2014 Inside the visiting clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park, they know the stars of Major League Baseball by their cheesesteak orders. Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale wants a chicken cheesesteak with extra cheese and extra banana peppers the day after he makes a start.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he eats two,\u201d said Eric Michaels, a clubhouse attendant who is usually on the grill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d John Zawislak, another clubbie, said. \u201cHe got two last time.\u201d<\/p>\n
When CJ Abrams arrives, they already know what the Washington Nationals shortstop wants: a chicken classic cheesesteak with extra cheese. That\u2019s the pregame order. After every game here, Abrams will have a regular cheesesteak waiting for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these NL guys,\u201d clubhouse attendant Jacob Stong said, \u201cwe\u2019ve seen them walk through the door and we\u2019re already on that grill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wait. Two cheesesteaks every game here?<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cThe cheese is just melted perfectly. It\u2019s good. It\u2019s just good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The festivities surrounding the 96th All-Star Game \u2014 the first one at Citizens Bank Park \u2014 highlighted how well the 22-year-old ballpark has aged. Opposing players rave about the atmosphere, how it\u2019s one of the most enjoyable places to play because the blue seats are almost always full. The fans are passionate. The competition is usually good.<\/p>\n
But there is a not-so-secret reason many of MLB\u2019s visiting players enjoy a trip to South Philly. The All-Stars are eating cheesesteaks this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good,\u201d Kansas City Royals starter Michael Wacha said, \u201cto have a little cheat meal every now and then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every MLB team travels with at least one nutritionist, a requirement stipulated in the collective bargaining agreement. Teams spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to feed their players the highest cuisine. On the road, visiting teams are typically responsible for arranging catering. Some ballparks offer trained chefs in the visiting clubhouses.<\/p>\n
The Phillies have a bunch of guys who know how to work a grill. Their cheesesteak is regarded as one of the best in the city, as proclaimed not just by visitors but also some local employees who have conducted their own unscientific research. The clubhouse staff, Michaels estimated, makes at least 35 cheesesteaks on a regular-season gameday. With an American League team that comes to Citizens Bank Park only every other year, that number swells to 50. Word of mouth, in this sport, is strong.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n CJ Abrams gets two cheesesteaks a game every time the Nationals come to Citizens Bank Park. (Daniel Shirey \/ MLB Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
There is a competitive element. For years, players have offered bounties to staff members to take a run at eating as many cheesesteaks as possible during a three-game series here. That\u2019s one thing; ballplayers love nothing more than throwing around large sums of money to coerce normal humans to do unspeakable tasks.<\/p>\n
The regular cheesesteak orders are different. San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb has one a day whenever he\u2019s here. That is, unless he\u2019s pitching. What makes them so good?<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t tell you,\u201d Webb said. \u201cThere\u2019s some magic in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of the players just like the comfort of a good, made-to-order sandwich.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what makes it special for us,\u201d Michaels said. \u201cThere are guys, without even saying hello \u2014 like, Freddie Freeman wants a chicken cheesesteak with American cheese and he\u2019s going to put A1 sauce on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA1 sauce,\u201d Mark Meschede, another long-time clubbie, said with a tone of disbelief.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like,\u201d Michaels said, \u201c\u2018Hi guys. How you doing? Good to see you. I\u2019m hungry.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about his eating habits here, Freeman, a 10-time All-Star, laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you come to Philly, you forget about nutrition,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cYou eat the cheesesteaks in the visiting clubhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
The secret, Michaels said, is there is no secret. There is no special beef; they use the same brand (Philly\u2019s Best Steak) that Aramark, the ballpark food service, uses. They have a daily fresh delivery of rolls from Liscio\u2019s, a local bread institution based in New Jersey. They are willing to bend the traditional rules of cheesesteaks \u2014 toppings other than grilled onions are acceptable \u2014 and they don\u2019t mess with Cheez Whiz. Every steak sandwich is made with American cheese, but savvy players can request provolone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s ingredients that are here, fresh every day,\u201d Michaels said. \u201cYou tell us what you want, it\u2019s made right in front of you, and five minutes later you\u2019re taking it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michaels, 30, grew up in Northeast Philadelphia. He\u2019s worked for the Phillies for 13 years. His boss, Kevin Steinhour, has run the visitors clubhouse in Philadelphia since 1992 \u2014 long before the Phillies abandoned Veterans Stadium. This is his 46th year in professional baseball; he\u2019s a steady presence for opposing teams. And he has never understood the fascination with the clubhouse cheesesteaks, which have gained attention through various TV features and cameos on game broadcasts.<\/p>\n
Steinhour\u2019s job is to ensure the visiting players are comfortable. He works for the Phillies \u2014 the entire clubhouse staff does \u2014 but they want a good experience for the opposing team. It is the respectful thing to do. If that means a constant stream of cheesesteaks, so be it.<\/p>\n
Michaels, his co-workers joke, is famous in Japan because Shohei Ohtani, unprompted, mentioned the clubhouse cheesesteaks during the 2025 postseason. A Japanese camera crew filmed Michaels making a sandwich. Then, the proprietors of a Philadelphia-themed restaurant in Tokyo, Nihonbashi Philly, traveled to Citizens Bank Park. They wanted to meet Michaels and study his craft.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first started working here, I had absolutely zero skills,\u201d Michaels said. \u201cCould not do anything in a kitchen. And now it\u2019s hilarious that people talk about us making food.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_9786-1-scaled.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Ready to take your order: From left, visiting clubhouse attendants Mark Meschede, John Zawislak, Jacob Stong, Eric Michaels and Noah Bartholomew. (Philadelphia Phillies)<\/p>\n
Michaels is not the only one on the grill. Everyone who works in the visiting clubhouse has to learn the art. \u201cWhen new people get hired, we always make the first one for them,\u201d Michaels said. \u201cYou get to enjoy your first one. And then after that, if you want one for yourself, you gotta get on there, and you gotta figure it out.\u201d Noah Bartholomew, the bat boy for visiting teams, is new this season. He made enough cheesesteaks for himself to know what worked and what did not. Now he\u2019ll make cheesesteaks to send to the umpires\u2019 locker room. (Yes, the umpires receive a delivery every day.)<\/p>\n
Adrian S\u00e1nchez, a Venezuelan infielder whose big-league career spanned 106 games over parts of four seasons, once ate 10 1\/2 cheesesteaks in a single day. That record, set in 2021, remains the standard for a player. The New York Mets ate 103 cheesesteaks on one day in 2014. Recently, some visiting nutritionists and dietitians have engaged in their own competition, which delights Michaels and the other cooks.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh yeah, I want the record,\u201d Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to get it; there\u2019s quite a bit of us going for the record. But they\u2019re delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Webb, the Giants pitcher who swears by one cheesesteak a day in Philly, orders what he has dubbed \u201cThe Diablo.\u201d The clubhouse staff douses it in hot sauce.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, it\u2019s so hot here that I think you sweat it out anyway,\u201d Webb said. \u201cYou do a warm-up and play catch, and you\u2019re drenched in sweat. You sweat it out enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul Skenes ordered five cheesesteaks to go on the final day the Pittsburgh Pirates were at Citizens Bank Park in early July. Aaron Judge orders at least one every time the New York Yankees visit. Michaels will occasionally send one over to a Phillies player. Zack Wheeler likes it with light onions. Cristopher S\u00e1nchez wants buffalo sauce on his.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause they\u2019re really, really good,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cAnd we don\u2019t get to have them ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285354546-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen you come to Philly, you forget about nutrition,\u201d Freddie Freeman said. \u201cYou eat the cheesesteaks in the visiting clubhouse.\u201d (Daniel Shirey \/ MLB Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
This week, Freeman resides in the home clubhouse because he\u2019s on the National League team. The Phillies have a robust kitchen staff on that side, complete with two trained chefs. They prepare gourmet meals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to try their food,\u201d Freeman said Monday afternoon. \u201cI had some steak and rice earlier. It was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughed. In a week, the Los Angeles Dodgers will be at Citizens Bank Park to play the Phillies. Freeman will return to the visitors clubhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019ll save the cheesesteaks for then,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cChicken and cheese. Can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Brittany Ghiroli contributed to this report.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Inside the visiting clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park, they know the stars of Major League Baseball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6033,101807,11200,1423,69,71,70,1425,26184,29829],"class_list":["post-243002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-culture","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-washington-nationals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}