Coney Island Is Hot Dog Heaven

Every Fourth of July, Coney Island is transformed into the center of the frankfurter-eating universe.

At the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues, around noontime on Independence Day, Nathan’s Famous hosts its annual Hot Dog Eating Contest, where America’s most gastrically-gifted men and women convene to see who can devour the most franks.

Joey Chestnut, a once-in-a-lifetime eating superstar, claimed his 11th Mustard Belt earlier today by shoveling down a world-record 74 hot dogs in 10 minutes. For the avid sabermetrician, that works out to 7.4 DPMs (dogs per minute). On the women’s side, New York native Miki Sudo won her fifth straight title by consuming 37 franks, still an impossible total for the average human.

But while Chestnut and Sudo will make national headlines for their incomparable ingestion abilities, there are a few more talented eaters down the street at MCU Park.

You might not have guessed it, but one of the best is Cyclones manager Edgardo Alfonzo.

“I ate 14 hot dogs one time. A long time ago. I was probably 15 years old,” Alfonzo said. “But the problem is they were Venezuelan hot dogs with French fries, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, and cheese on top. They’re smaller than regular hot dogs, too. But I do like hot dogs. Here, the most I could eat is like four or five.”

They may not have been traditional, Nathan’s-sized hot dogs, but they weren’t as bite-sized as pigs in a blanket, either.

“As a matter of fact, that day I was at a [baseball] game,” the Venezuela native said. “I wasn’t playing, though. I was just watching. The [vendor] was like, ‘How many are you going to eat?’ Then he counted and said, ‘You ate 14, man. You’re killing it today.’ It was a lot. But after that, I couldn’t eat any more.”

In a neighborhood known as the birthplace of Nathan’s Famous, “Fonzie” isn’t the only Cyclone who enjoys a good hot dog.

For Cyclones on-field host King Henry, his favorite frank is his namesake.

“It would have to be the King Henry Dog like we had at the ballpark [a few years ago],” he said. “That’d be a hot dog wrapped in bacon, chili, and cheese.”

Yuuum. How many of them could he eat, though?

“One. I like to savor the moment,” King Henry said. “But if I had to, in 10 minutes, I could do 10.”

Among the guys on the team, the debate isn’t so much about which Cyclone could eat the most hot dogs. First baseman Chase Chambers, at 6-foot-1 and 250 pounds, is the consensus pick.

Instead, it’s a frankfurter question that has polarized the country: Is a hot dog a sandwich?

In the Cyclones’ clubhouse before tonight’s series-opening game against the Aberdeen IronBirds, pitchers Ryan McAuliffe and Mac Lozer tried to argue their case.

“So a sandwich is something that’s in between buns, right,” Lozer asked McAuliffe. “But what if you take the hot dog out of the bun? What do you call it? What do you call the things you buy? They’re hot dogs, right? So you call them hot dogs without a bun. That’s not a sandwich.”

“But you call it a burger without a bun,” McAuliffe responded.

Sitting between the two was Kevin Smith, who held the tie-breaking vote.

“I don’t think it’s a sandwich,” the left-hander said. “I just don’t consider it a sandwich. I never have.”

— Dom

Tonight’s game: Brooklyn vs. Aberdeen, 6 p.m. — MCU Park
Probables: RHP Briam Campusano (2–1, 2.19 ERA) vs. RHP Jimmy Murphy (1–0, 1.69 ERA)
Tickets: BrooklynCyclones.com/tickets
Audio: BrooklynCyclones.com/listen