SNY's Steve Gelbs relishing success of 'Let's be Frank' segment about MLB stadium hot dog reviews

It undoubtedly was the highlight of the Mets’ season.

In early May at Coors Field in Denver, SNY’s Steve Gelbs and Keith Hernandez shared a 23-inch, one-pound hot dog called “The Glizzilla.”

On Let's Be Frank with @SteveGelbs, Steve reviews the two-foot long Glizzilla 🌭 pic.twitter.com/3qTqpJXNhp

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 7, 2026

And they did it “Lady and the Tramp” style.

“What’s ‘Lady and the Tramp’? ” Hernandez asked after the two announcers simultaneously took a bite on opposite ends of the all-beef behemoth.

“You know that image is going to live forever,” a bemused Gary Cohen said. “You’re never going to be able to live it down.”

Said Gelbs: “For Keith, he won’t be able to live it down. For me, it’s a career highlight.”

The viral moment was part of Gelbs’ season-long segment called “Let’s Be Frank” in which the reporter samples hot dogs at different ballparks during Mets road games.

Simple. And brilliant.

“Let’s Be Frank” was supposed to be a series of lighthearted segments during a successful Mets season.

Instead, it became a hilarious, never gratuitous and oft-rewatched series of segments during a terrible Mets season.

The season has not been fun or funny. “Let’s Be Frank” has been both — some much-needed comic relief by a booth that is not afraid of pushing the envelope regardless of whether the team is going good or bad.

“I joke around with Keith and Ron [Darling] that I could give the greatest baseball report of my life and nobody will care,” Gelbs told Newsday this week in a telephone interview. “What I’m going to be known for from here on out is hot dogs because it’s all anybody wants to talk to me about. Now it’s ‘hey, how’s the hot dog, Steve?’ People bring out signs. I mean, it’s crazy. I still can’t believe what it’s become.”

The segment was the brainchild of SNY senior coordinating producer Gregg Picker, who brought the idea to Gelbs before the season.

“He said, ‘What do you think about the idea of just every road city we go to, you try a hot dog and you give it a review?’ ” Gelbs said. “And I said yes. But I remember thinking, and I have told him in the time since, I remember thinking, ‘There’s no way this works. How many ways are there going to be to review a hot dog?’ ”

Turns out there are many. A few other highlights included Gelbs interviewing David Wright in Anaheim for more than five minutes of hot dog-related banter, and Gelbs praising Cleveland’s Bertman Original Ball Park Mustard so much that it sold out on Amazon and the company sent Gelbs enough mustard to last a lifetime.

Gelbs called Dodger Stadium’s famed Dodger Dog “the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had” and ranked it at 1.5 out of 10.

"It looks like baloney!"

Let's Be Frank with @SteveGelbs 🌭
Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
Dodger Dog rating: 1.5/10 pic.twitter.com/4HimTup8MO

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 15, 2026

Later in the season, the Cincinnati hot dog with Skyline Chili overtook the Dodger Dog in terms of awfulness in Gelbs’ view and currently is last at 1.4.

“I’m not trying to be hyperbolic — I’d rather have a vending machine burrito,” Gelbs said.

With one road city taste test to go — Arlington, Texas, next week; Washington was reviewed during an earlier visit — the hot dog at Atlanta’s Truist Park (“the perfect stadium hot dog,” Gelbs said) is the leader with an 8.7.

Back-to-back new high scores. What a road trip! https://t.co/FNfqd0BcjL

— Steve Gelbs (@SteveGelbs) August 11, 2026

We know this because a website called “Gelbsdogs.com” popped up to record Gelbs’ rankings for all eternity.

All of the segments are available on social media. Nothing tops the “Lady and the Tramp” moment, which, for Hernandez and anyone else who doesn’t know, refers to a moment in the 1955 Disney movie when two romantically inclined dogs slurp the same spaghetti noodle until their lips meet in a shy, inadvertent kiss.

“I had in my mind, ‘OK, I’m going to ask these two to do a ‘Lady and the Tramp’ style with it,” Gelbs said, referring to Cohen and Hernandez. “But I very much assumed that they would both scoff at that. There was no way they were going to do it.”

Hernandez did it, and the rest is history — history you can hang in your den or living room.

Gelbs and Hernandez were contacted by Coach’s Collectibles, a Long Island-based online retailer, and the duo autographed 100 photos of the “Lady and the Tramp” moment, which are on sale on the company’s web site for $99 a pop.

“I’ve been working with Steve about a year now,” said Coach’s Collectibles owner Domenico Vecchie. “Then when this whole hot dog thing happened in Colorado, as soon as I saw it, I was like, ‘Oh my God. Mets fans are going to love this. If I can get Keith to agree to sign this and Steve — this is such a cool, hilarious moment.’ Keith was like, ‘Yeah, absolutely,’ and Steve was really excited about it, and that’s how we kind of put it together.”

Let’s be frank: The segment has been relished by Mets fans, who have needed a laugh.

“It is really pretty cool to see how much people are into it,” Gelbs said, “and how much it’s contributing to their enjoyment in an otherwise disappointing season.”