Musco Lighting - Baseball returns to Brooklyn

Baseball returns to Brooklyn
Lollipop lights help rekindle excitement

Neon lights surrounding special-build Musco lights provide a carnival-like atmosphere at KeySpan Park in Brooklyn, New York.

The “Boys of Summer” have returned to Brooklyn, New York. Before this season, a professional baseball game in Brooklyn had not occurred since Major League Baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles 44 years ago.

The Brooklyn Cyclones, a Class A affiliate of the New York Mets, rekindled fans’ spirits this spring with a first place finish, post season play, and a new ballpark on historic Coney Island. Neon lights for special effects added a carnival-like atmosphere.

Home runs and show-stopping defense always make a baseball game more exciting. The pulsating, waving, and flashing neon lights accenting these plays bring a new level of excitement for fans at KeySpan Park.

Musco worked with general contractor Turner Construction to add the special effects’ rings to the sports-lighting systems. People soon dubbed this the lollipop project because of its unique look.

Musco provided a design for the rings that was easier to manufacture and more cost-effective than the original design from another supplier. “They gave us anything we asked for, followed up on every detail, and were at the construction site throughout,” said Walter Murray, Turner’s project manager.

The impact of this ballpark has been noted throughout Coney Island. Even non-baseball fans use the lollipops as a landmark. Attendance records at the ballpark exceeded expectations during its debut season — this for Class A ball in a city where both big-league teams went to the World Series last season.

Fans appear eager to recapture the warm fuzzy imagery — Ebbets Field, Jackie Robinson, “dem Bums” — that accompanies baseball in Brooklyn. •

Colored neon lights are mounted to steel circles 30 feet in diameter and attached to eight custom-built baseplate poles. The Musco Team built the steel rings and the ballfield lighting systems.