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Brooklyn Cyclones
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Brooklyn Cyclones Founded in 1986 Brooklyn |
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| League titles | 2001 (declared Co-champions with Williamsport Crosscutters) | ||
| Division titles | 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007 | ||
| Owner(s)/Operated by: Sterling Equities | |||
| Manager: Edgar Alfonzo | |||
| General Manager: Steve Cohen | |||
The Brooklyn Cyclones are a minor league baseball team in the short season single "A" New York - Penn League, affiliated with the New York Mets. The Cyclones play at KeySpan Park just off the boardwalk on Coney Island. In 2005, the Brooklyn Cyclones became the major partner of the High School of Sports Management, a new small school located down the block from KeySpan Park on West 19 Street and Mermaid Ave.
In 1999, New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced a deal that would bring two minor-league baseball teams to the outer boroughs of the city. New stadiums would be constructed for the Staten Island Yankees and an as-yet-unnamed team to play at Coney Island. A name-the-team contest was held, and the club became known as the Cyclones, named for the famous Cyclone roller coaster at nearby Astroland amusement park on Coney Island.
The Cyclones began as the St. Catharines, Ontario-based St. Catharines Stompers (formerly St. Catharines Blue Jays) in 1986 as a team in the New York - Penn League. Sold by Toronto in 1995 and bought out by local investors, including former Toronto Blue Jay Ernie Whitt. In 1999 the team was bought and moved to Brooklyn. The club played its 2000 season at St. John's University in Jamaica, in the borough of Queens, remaining a Toronto Blue Jays affiliate for one last season. During this time, the club was known as the "Queens Kings".
By 2001, the new park was completed, and many Brooklynites eagerly awaited its opening. There had been no professional baseball in the borough – indeed, no professional sports at all – since the Dodgers had left Ebbets Field for California. The team proved so popular that additional seats were added to the ballpark about three weeks after opening day. They, too, sold out quickly.
The Cyclones have two major mascots, Sandy the Seagull and Pee-wee. Sandy is the main Cyclones mascot who has been with the team since the first year in 2001. Pee-wee was introduced in 2003 and is supposedly the adopted son of Sandy. From 2001-2002 Sandy was sponsored by Radio Shack.From 2003 till now Sandy is sponsored by Astoria Savings bank. Pee-wee on the other hand was sponsored by Coney Island Hospital from 2003-2005. Currently Pee-Wee has no sponsor. Sandy got his name from Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, while Pee-Wee was named after Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese. In 2006 the Cyclones introduced a new unnamed mascot that was a Pelican. The Pelican was a blow-up "Zooperstar" type character who would be on the field an inning or two each game. There was a "Name the Mascot" contest where fans had the opportunity to name the Pelicun. Fans were not entertained much by the Pelican. Since the 2006 season, the Pelican has not made an appearance and the team never officially gave the mascot a name.
The Cyclones were strong in their opening season with the best record in the league, 52-24. They defeated the Staten Island Yankees, 2 games to 1, in the opening playoff round. The championship series was against the Williamsport Crosscutters, and the Cyclones traveled to Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania and won the series opener on September 9. The potential championship clincher was scheduled for September 11 in Brooklyn, but that morning the World Trade Center in Manhattan was destroyed in a terrorist attack and the league canceled the remainder of the series, leaving Brooklyn and Williamsport as co-champions.
Since then, the Cyclones have continually sold out KeySpan Park and the games continue to draw large crowds from both Brooklyn and farther afield. They won the 2003 McNamara division championship.
The first Cyclone to break into the major leagues was infielder Danny Garcia, who made his debut with the New York Mets on September 2, 2003, in a 3-1 Met win over the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium.
In April 2006, Brian Bannister became the first Cyclone Pitcher to make his debut with the Mets in a game against the Washington Nationals at Shea. Ex-Mets prospect Scott Kazmir, who played with Brooklyn in 2002, made his ML Debut with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2004.
The latest Cyclone to make the Mets roster is sidearm reliever Joe Smith, who pitched a scoreless third of an inning in his debut against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first game of the 2007 season.
On August 23, 2005, The Cyclones and KeySpan Park hosted the first-ever New York-Penn League All-Star Game, which was won by the National League NYPL Team by a score of 5-4.
On July 20, 2006, the Cyclones and the Oneonta Tigers took part in the longest game in the history of the New York-Penn League, a 26-inning marathon that the Cyclones lost, 6-1. The game took 6 hours and 40 minutes to complete. The Cyclones scored their run in the first inning; Oneonta tied the game in the fourth and then did not score again until they scored five runs in the top of the 26th. Cyclones manager George Greer was ejected from the contest in the first inning for arguing an umpire's call on a force play at second base. [1]
On September 7, 2007; during the final regular season game (a 5-4 victory over the Lowell Spinners), the Cyclones set an all time single game attendance record of 10,073; 2,573 people over the seating capacity of the stadium in 2001.
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| AAA | AA | A | Rookie |
| New Orleans Zephyrs | Binghamton Mets |
St. Lucie Mets Savannah Sand Gnats Brooklyn Cyclones |
Kingsport Mets Gulf Coast Mets DSL Mets VSL Mets |
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| Pinckney Division | Auburn Doubledays • Batavia Muckdogs • Jamestown Jammers • Mahoning Valley Scrappers • State College Spikes • Williamsport Crosscutters |
| McNamara Division | Aberdeen IronBirds • Brooklyn Cyclones • Hudson Valley Renegades • Staten Island Yankees |
| Stedler Division | Lowell Spinners • Oneonta Tigers • Tri-City ValleyCats • Vermont Lake Monsters |
