How ‘Seinfeld Night’ Became a New York Summer Tradition
It’s a night that combines the zaniness of “Seinfeld,” a Coney Island freak show and a lower-level minor league baseball team with nothing to lose.It all began 10 years ago as a whimsical one-off minor league baseball promotion that ended with a contest.Yada, yada, yada …“Seinfeld Night” at the Brooklyn Cyclones is now a “Must-See-TV” kind of New York summer tradition, a game that easily sells out the 7,500 seats at the team’s Coney Island ballpark every year and demonstrates the show’s enduring appeal.It’s a night that combines the zaniness of “Seinfeld,” a Coney Island freak show and a lower-level minor league baseball team that has all the chutzpah of a short, stocky, balding man trying to impress a woman by pretending to be a marine biologist.Not that there’s anything wrong with that.On Saturday night, there were numerous contests. Men got as much ice cream on their face as possible. Soup was dumped on the head of someone who had been repeatedly scolded: “No soup for you!” And it all ended, of course, with 20 dancing Elaines.Sam Wekselblatt, left, and Patrick Westervelt Jr. compete for the messiest face. Mr. Westervelt was declared the winner.Lanna Apisukh for The New York TimesIt did not matter much that the Cyclones — make that the Bubble Boys — got shut out 3-0 by their archrivals, the Hudson Valley Renegades. (The Cyclones are part of the Mets organization and the Renegades belong to the Yankees.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
