Baseball Guru
06-25-2001, 06:59 PM
Baseball Is Back in Brooklyn
NEW YORK (AP) -- Its heart broken by the Dodgers nearly a half century ago, Brooklyn is starting over.
Professional baseball returned to the borough Monday with the home opener of the Brooklyn Cyclones, a new minor
league affiliate of the New York Mets playing in a $39 million stadium in Coney Island.
A royal welcome was planned, from a parade to postgame fireworks for the sold-out crowd. Hot dog concessions were
from Nathan's Famous, a Coney Island staple. A team Web site is already brimming with nostalgia.
''Born and bred in Brooklyn for 34 years, I almost cried when I heard we finally have a team of our own!'' Mike
Zukowski wrote in a message on the site. ''Go 'Clones!''
The team is named for an old-fashioned wooden roller coaster, the Cyclone, that clatters, soars and dips beyond left
field. But in that great Brooklyn tradition of giving every newcomer a New York nickname, the Cyclones already have
three: Da Brooks, Da 'Clones and Da Psychos. (The Dodgers, of course, were Dem Bums.)
The team, a Class A affiliate, is 3-3 after six games on the road and played the Mahoning Valley (Ohio) Scrappers on
Monday night.
''To have baseball back in Brooklyn has got to be one of the most wonderful things that's happened for me while I've
been the mayor of New York City,'' Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a Yankees fan, said Monday on NBC's ''Today'' show.
Fifteen-hundred Little Leaguers were to join Giuliani, Mets owner Fred Wilpon and his son, Cyclones chief executive
officer Jeff Wilpon, in a pregame parade.
For those not among the 6,500 with tickets to the sold-out game, there were other outlets -- the team's Web site, a
college radio station, a public TV station and local cable in Manhattan.
The Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field on Sept. 24, 1957. Then owner Walter O'Malley moved them to Los
Angeles. In a list once compiled by a couple of the city's newspaper columnists, O'Malley was ranked with Hitler and
Stalin as one of the 10 worst men who ever lived.
The Cyclones' logo, on caps and shirts, is a curlicued B reminiscent of the Dodgers' old symbol, intertwined with an
ornate C.
''As an old Brooklyn Dodger fan from the Bronx, I am wishing the very best to this team,'' said a message on the
Cyclones' Web site posted by 'Louie from Florida.' ''Love them Bums since the late '40s. They broke my heart and my
interest in baseball until the Mets came into being.''
The team already has been dubbed ''Da Brooks'' in radio broadcasts. Jeff Wilpon has been too busy readying for the
home opener to notice.
''Usually it takes time for a team to get a nickname,'' he said, adding, ''I hope they don't call them the Psychos.''
------------------
"Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself, but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of a hit-and-run."
LETS GO METS!!!
HELP BE AN ADDICT AND CLICK ON AN AD!!
NEW YORK (AP) -- Its heart broken by the Dodgers nearly a half century ago, Brooklyn is starting over.
Professional baseball returned to the borough Monday with the home opener of the Brooklyn Cyclones, a new minor
league affiliate of the New York Mets playing in a $39 million stadium in Coney Island.
A royal welcome was planned, from a parade to postgame fireworks for the sold-out crowd. Hot dog concessions were
from Nathan's Famous, a Coney Island staple. A team Web site is already brimming with nostalgia.
''Born and bred in Brooklyn for 34 years, I almost cried when I heard we finally have a team of our own!'' Mike
Zukowski wrote in a message on the site. ''Go 'Clones!''
The team is named for an old-fashioned wooden roller coaster, the Cyclone, that clatters, soars and dips beyond left
field. But in that great Brooklyn tradition of giving every newcomer a New York nickname, the Cyclones already have
three: Da Brooks, Da 'Clones and Da Psychos. (The Dodgers, of course, were Dem Bums.)
The team, a Class A affiliate, is 3-3 after six games on the road and played the Mahoning Valley (Ohio) Scrappers on
Monday night.
''To have baseball back in Brooklyn has got to be one of the most wonderful things that's happened for me while I've
been the mayor of New York City,'' Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a Yankees fan, said Monday on NBC's ''Today'' show.
Fifteen-hundred Little Leaguers were to join Giuliani, Mets owner Fred Wilpon and his son, Cyclones chief executive
officer Jeff Wilpon, in a pregame parade.
For those not among the 6,500 with tickets to the sold-out game, there were other outlets -- the team's Web site, a
college radio station, a public TV station and local cable in Manhattan.
The Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field on Sept. 24, 1957. Then owner Walter O'Malley moved them to Los
Angeles. In a list once compiled by a couple of the city's newspaper columnists, O'Malley was ranked with Hitler and
Stalin as one of the 10 worst men who ever lived.
The Cyclones' logo, on caps and shirts, is a curlicued B reminiscent of the Dodgers' old symbol, intertwined with an
ornate C.
''As an old Brooklyn Dodger fan from the Bronx, I am wishing the very best to this team,'' said a message on the
Cyclones' Web site posted by 'Louie from Florida.' ''Love them Bums since the late '40s. They broke my heart and my
interest in baseball until the Mets came into being.''
The team already has been dubbed ''Da Brooks'' in radio broadcasts. Jeff Wilpon has been too busy readying for the
home opener to notice.
''Usually it takes time for a team to get a nickname,'' he said, adding, ''I hope they don't call them the Psychos.''
------------------
"Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself, but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of a hit-and-run."
LETS GO METS!!!
HELP BE AN ADDICT AND CLICK ON AN AD!!