In Memory of Rick Stelmaszek

Our stuffed burger this week is “the Stelly,” in memory of my good friend Rick Stelmaszek, former Bullpen Coach for the Minnesota Twins. He was the longest tenured coach in baseball at one point. I am very proud of the relationship Foley's has with all things Minnesota and Stelly plays a big part in that.

I was introduced to Stelly by my good friend Joe Castiglione, who is with the Red Sox. That introduction lead to a great friendship, good memories and a lot of laughs. One I remember is Stelly taking me into the clubhouse and plonking me down on a couch between Johann Santana and Francisco Liriano. My basic knowledge of Spanish didn’t get me very far, but thankfully Santana spoke better English than I do. He also introduced me to another man who has been very good to Foley's Ron Gardenhire, who was our personal tour guide when the Twins moved to Target Field. We lost Stelly last November way too soon. He is gone but certainly not forgotten here at Foley's.

So what’s in a “Stelly Burger” you might ask? Well, we consulted another one of our pals from the Twin Cities, baseball writer LaVelle E. Neal III for his thoughts. His recollections of Stelly ordering a burger was “knock off its horns, wipe its @ss, drag it through the garden and slap it on a plate." Sorry Stelly but we aren’t going to follow those directions exactly, but we are going to feature our Black Angus burger stuffed with American Cheese (an homage to the Minnesota delicacy, Jucy Lucy) topped with Spicy Mustard (honoring his Chicago roots), mushrooms, onions, peppers and pickles. It will be served with fries.

So why not stop by try a “Stelly” and raise a Light beer in his memory.