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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 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 in the Flatbush section 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 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 lost the 2003 league championship to Williamsport, 2 games to 0.
The first Cyclone to subsequently "break in" to 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.
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 which the Cyclones lost, 6-1. The game took 6 hours and 40 minutes to complete. The Cyclones scored their lone 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.
External links
Template:New York - Penn League
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