Brooklyn Cyclones
Our next stop is Maimonides Park in Coney Island — home to the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones — with roller-coaster views that make it one of the most unique ballpark experiences in the country.
Dad and I crossed the hot parking lot near the Coney Island boardwalk to Maimonides Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, the High-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They were hosting a team we would visit four nights later, the Wilmington Blue Rocks, affiliated with the Washington Nationals.
Along the outer wall of Maimonides Park on the first-base side, we came across the Wall of Remembrance, with granite panels displaying laser-engraved portraits of 417 first responders who died on September 11, 2001. It was the first such memorial built in the city after 9/11.
As we waited for the gates to open, Dad and I had a look at the statue of Brooklyn Dodgers stars Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson in front of the ballpark. The statue memorializes a story from Robinson’s first season in 1947, when Cincinnati fans were said to be giving Major League Baseball’s first African-American player plenty of jeers, prompting the popular Reese to leave his position at shortstop and put his arm around Robinson in support.
Like Nathan’s Famous just down the street, Maimonides Park is located right on Surf Avenue, in the midst of the beachfront action in Coney Island. It was built in 2001 on the site of Steeplechase Park, an amusement complex operated from 1897 to 1964. A 262-foot tower from Steeplechase’s Parachute Jump still stands beyond the ballpark’s right-field wall. In left, the Soarin’ Eagle roller coaster provides a mesmerizing backdrop for baseball fans, with coasters turning and looping throughout the game.
Artificial turf was added to Maimonides Park after Hurricane Sandy caused millions of dollars in damage in 2012.
The Cyclones franchise began in 1986 as the St. Catharines Blue Jays (later the St. Catharines Stompers) in the Low-A New York-Penn League, playing near Niagara Falls in Ontario. Before the 2000 season, the team was purchased and moved to New York, appearing as the Queens Kings for one season while the Maimonides Park — then called KeySpan Park — was being built. In 2001, the club settled in at Coney Island as a New York Mets affiliate and was renamed the Cyclones, after the famous Cyclone roller coaster that still runs today just a few blocks away. It was the first time a professional sports team was based in Brooklyn since the beloved Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957.
Brooklyn won New York-Penn League titles in their first (2001) and final (2019) years in the New York-Penn League. The first was a co-championship with the Williamsport Crosscutters after their title series was canceled due to the events of 9/11. Since 2021, the Cyclones have played at the High-A level in the storied South Atlantic League. In 2023, the team averaged about 2,800 fans per game — the ballpark seats 7,000 — seventh in the 12-team league.
Carnival-style neon lights bring a funhouse vibe to the main concourse, where we found the two-story team store. I spent about 15 minutes deciding between a classic “BC” home hat and the gray-and-blue cap representing the team’s Copa de la Diversión alternate identity, the Brooklyn Jefes, with its stylized crown representing the Brooklyn Bridge. I went with the Jefes.
The Cyclones started the day a game above .500 and 7 1/2 games ahead of their opponents from Wilmington.
The team had a Christmas in July promotion going on our night at Maimonides Park. Fans received a bobblehead depiction of Brett Baty — the Mets first-round pick in 2019 — as an elf. One of Brooklyn’s two mascots, Pee Wee, wore an ugly Christmas sweater for the occasion. The other mascot, Sandy the Seagull (named after Dodgers Hall-of-Famer Sandy Koufax), played it straight as he appeared on the field with Santa Claus to give away prizes.
We took our seats and the contest got underway. On the fourth pitch of the game, Blue Rocks leadoff hitter Daylen Lile sent a line drive over the left-field fence off Brooklyn starter Cameron Foster to give Wilmington an early 1-0 lead. Lile had been promoted from the Single-A Fredericksburg Nationals two weeks earlier after hitting .291 with seven home runs in 66 games.
The Blue Rocks put another runner on base, but Foster — playing his first season of Minor League Baseball after an outstanding year at McNeese State — got out of the inning without further trouble.
Daylen Lile
Cameron Foster
Guy Zoda, aka King Henry, was the master of ceremonies for all the between-innings entertainment (with a voice that sounded suspiciously like Santa’s). A former magician, King Henry first worked for the Cyclones in 2003 and has also run the show for the Staten Island FerryHawks of the independent Atlantic League. Wearing his iconic crown and suit — he went with a red suit and green tie for Christmas in July — King Henry presided over a hot dog race, kids wrapping themselves in paper and a bow, a tire relay, ball tosses, and trivia, with his voice reaching shrieky crescendos as the winners emerged.
By the bottom of the third inning, both Foster and Wilmington starter Kyle Luckham had found their grooves, with Luckham giving up just one hit in the first three innings. The Blue Rocks still led it 1-0.
The pitcher’s duel extended through the fifth inning. Foster struck out five batters in the fourth and fifth, increasing his tally to an impressive 11 strikeouts with just one walk. Meanwhile, Luckham had allowed just two runners on base the entire day. The game was zipping by.
It was time to turn our attention to dinner. As we were in Coney Island, there really was no other choice than a Nathan’s Famous hot dog. Dad and I both had them with chili and cheese, and they were a tasty mess. (Shhhh, Dad had two!)
The weather began to change rapidly in the sixth inning. Storm clouds moved over Maimonides Park, darkening what had been dazzlingly bright skies. The threat of rain was upon us again.
Along the third-base concourse, fans lined up for autographs from New York Mets legend Howard Johnson, a two-time Major League All Star who finished in the top 10 in MVP voting three times. During his best season in 1991, Johnson led a fifth-place Mets club with 38 home runs and 117 RBIs.
The Cyclones finally broke Luckham’s spell in the bottom of the sixth when 20-year-old Dominican outfielder Alex Ramirez homered to center field to tie the score. But the Blue Rocks worked a hit batter, fielder’s choice, and a single to take the lead back in the top of the seventh.
That’s when the weather turned just plain weird. A warm mist looking more like a sandstorm than rain blew across the field, making visibility tricky at points. A few fans pulled up stakes and left their seats for the concourse, but most endured the light spray.
The ever-shifting sky threatened sudden trouble as both teams went scoreless in the eighth. Luckham had finally left the game after seven stellar innings, giving up just one run on two hits.
In the bottom of the eighth, a rainbow appeared beyond right-center field, appearing to terminate at the historic B&B Carousel on the boardwalk. A faint double-rainbow echoed elusively alongside it.
Quinn Brodey
Down 2-1, Cyclones reliever Quinn Brodey needed to keep things close in the ninth. In his five seasons in Minor League Baseball, Brodey had reached the Triple-A level twice — in 2021 and 2022 — but as an outfielder. In those seasons, the former third-round pick had failed to hit above the Mendoza Line (.200) at any level. The Mets were now trying Brodey out on the mound in 2023. He started the season in Brooklyn and performed reasonably well before getting a look in Double-A Binghamton, where the leftie gave up eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings across three games. He was demoted to Brooklyn and had struggled again of late.
Brodey had two outs with a man on second when Blue Rocks first baseman Brandon Boissiere plated the runner with a single. Shortstop Jordy Barley followed with a rope to center that cleared the wall, and the visitors led it 5-1. The Mets decided the experiment was over and released Brodey two days later.
Brooklyn got a runner aboard in the ninth, but the comeback ended there. Wilmington took the game 5-1.
As our time at Maimonides Park ended, kids ran the bases and the sky turned magenta in one final light show above Coney Island.
On our way out, we drove past Nathan’s Famous, which was buzzing away on a sultry summer Saturday night.
