Professional baseball is back for the first time since September 24, 1957
The Brooklyn Cyclones are the New York Mets' short season team in the New York Penn League. After one year as the Queens Kings (and a Toronto Blue Jays' affiliate) in 2000 they moved to KeySpan Park in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. The park is built on the site of the old Steeplechase Park, off Surf Avenue in the 1900 block. The Cyclones are named after the famous roller coaster, which is still standing and can be seen from over the left field fence. Just beyond the right field foul pole is the parachute jump. While no longer in working order, it is a landmark and serves as a great vantage point. The parachute jump was built in 1939 for the New York World's Fair and moved to Coney Island in 1940. While the Cyclones are not a major league team, every effort has been made to link the team to the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, who played their last game in Brooklyn on September 24, 1957. The caps' logo is the famous B, and they have retired the numbers of two Dodger greats: Gil Hodges (#14) and Jackie Robinson (#42).
On August 21, 2005 my other half and I went to see the Cyclones play the Baltimore Orioles' counterpart, the Aberdeen Ironbirds, almost like a rematch of the 1969 World Series. The event was sponsored by St. John's University Alumni Association. After a barbeque at Peggy O'Neal's Restaurant we went to our seats near the third base line. As a bonus, the first pitch was thrown out by Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal, who stayed around for autographs. While I did not get his autograph, I was able to say hello to him and take his picture.
Aberdeen held the lead for most of the game, but in the 7th the 'Clones tied it, and then fell behind again in the top of the 8th until they regained the lead in the bottom of the 8th inning to go on and win, 9-6.
I have also saluted the Cyclones on two other sites on Homestead:
