This is John Batchelor, conversation with colleague Jim McTagg, formerly of Barron's Magazine,

now a novelist in Lancaster County, traveling recently, attending Denver Rockies games when he was in Colorado,

and most recently attending a Philadelphia Phillies game.

He lives in Lancaster.

He drives up to Philadelphia.

Comparing the food between

Philadelphia and Denver. The food, Jim identifies with his youth, of course, going to a Phillies

game in 1963. But he speaks of the food of Philadelphia, heavily influenced by the magnificent

Italian cuisine from the original

Italy. Here's Jim on baseball food at Philadelphia's stadium. More of this tonight, in praise of

the Phillies, of course. Jim McTay, digging in Denver. You know, they had the hot dogs and the hoagies, but they just don't, you know,

Philadelphia has a tradition, an Italian tradition.

A city without Italians is not a real city.

At one time in the 60s, Philadelphia had the largest concentration of Italians outside of Rome.

So you still have this tradition of Italian-inspired sandwiches and pizza, and even the

barbecue has an Italian twist to it.

So I'd say the food at the Philadelphia Stadium, if you're not on a diet like I am,

is probably the tastiest, heartiest food you'll find in any major league stadium.

And now for the economy.

Jim, we're looking for the recession.

It's as if we've lost it and we're looking

under light lamps because we can see, but we can't see out there in the darkness. Did you see

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