An evening with the best baseball team in New York
About half an hour before a mid-August Brooklyn Cyclones game, a family of three, a reporter and a middle-aged man dressed in Jedi garb walked into an elevator in Maimonides Park. As the door closed and they began their ascent, the Jedi turned to the others and asked, “So, what planet are you all from?”
“Um, Brooklyn,” the family matriarch replied. The Jedi then hum “Mad About Me” by Mos Eisley Cantina’s house band, Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes, as if to tell them he was from the planet Tatooine.
When the elevator doors opened and they stepped into the lobby, they joined hundreds of other Jedi Knights and Padawan apprentices fanning out across the ballpark, mingling with the mere mortals equipped with scorebooks, pencils, and baseball gloves. Beyond the right-field wall, in the area known as the Backyard, a few hundred others were busy brewing beer and playing cornhole, unaware that a baseball game—the event they’d paid their tickets to see—was about to begin. The two main attractions on this particular Saturday were Star Wars Night and the $50 all-you-can-drink deal.
The next afternoon, fans who came to watch Brooklyn’s 6-0 victory in the final between the Cyclones and the Aberdeen IronBirds were also there for bottomless mimosas on the roof and to play catch in left field before the first pitch.
In short, it was just another summer weekend at this boardwalk ballpark — home of the Cyclones, the Mets’ High-A affiliate — where kids run the bases after the final out is recorded and veteran season ticket holders lead the crowd. in chants. It’s also the only place in the city to see a successful local professional team this baseball season.
This summer, the professional team with the best record in New York City will play its home games not in the Bronx or Queens, but in Brooklyn. While the Mets and Yankees were still in fourth and fifth place early this week, the Cyclones held a two-game lead over the Jersey Shore BlueClaws in the Northern Division of the South Atlantic League.
“Stevie Cohen can buy the Mets, but he can’t buy these vibes,” said Josh Schoen, referring to Steven A. Cohen, the Mets’ billionaire owner, and not Steven J. Cohen, the Cyclones’ longtime vice president .
Schoen, 31, used to have season tickets to Yankee Stadium, but he said he also cheers for the Mets. He and a group of friends went to the game in Brooklyn to enjoy “the drinks and the atmosphere.”
“And they win more than the Yankees and Mets,” he added of the Cyclones.
From where Schoen stood in the Backyard, it was difficult to follow the action on the field. Fans could only see through a portion of the right-field wall, prompting Caroline Kelley to jokingly ask her boyfriend, Brian O’Reilly, if she could stand on his shoulders to look over the barrier while they played cornhole.
Allie Ditkowich celebrated her 33rd birthday that evening at the Cyclones game.
Ditkowich and her “Metsy Bestie” Ben Engle stood by the transparent portion of the wall, lamenting the misfortunes of their favorite MLB team. Brooklyn lost 8-3 to Aberdeen, but it wasn’t nearly as brutal as what happened that day in Queens. Atlanta took both games of a doubleheader from the Mets by a combined score of 27-3.
Elizabeth Beller-Dee stood with her 19-month-old daughter Leslie on the concourse on the right side of Maimonides Park.
She said she’s been going to Cyclones games since 2001, the team’s inaugural season: “They’re a great stepping stone into professional baseball.”
Her four-year-old son, Henry, was not with her. He was elsewhere in the stadium “being trained as a Padawan.”
As the game ended, thousands of fans migrated to the seats along the right field line near Section 20 so they could line up to run the bases. But first, the Empire Saber Guild, a fan club that wears costumes from the Star Wars universe and performs choreographed lightsaber shows, took the field to stage a battle. As that happened, the kids in the stands chanted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
After order was restored to the Milky Way, it was time for fireworks. It wasn’t until after the grand final that the field gate finally opened for fans to enter the bases.
At a rooftop brunch the next day, Maurice Geary, who lives in Barbados, said coming to Coney Island for the cyclones, the amusement park and Brighton Beach was his favorite thing to do in New York.
His friend Amy Maxmen said she hated sports but quickly discovered Sunday’s experience would be different.
“There’s a lot going on,” she said. “There’s a lot to look at here. There’s brunch. All you can drink. Good times.
“I’ve only been to serious baseball games and didn’t like them,” she added. “I like the idea of these being minor leagues. This is much better for me.”
When the game started, the regular players were already ready at the first base dugout. David Pecoraro wore a Cyclones bucket hat, as well as a T-shirt with the number 7 and “Alfonzo” spelled out on the back — for former Cyclones manager Edgar Alfonzo — and lots of zinc oxide on his face. Pecoraro is a pedantic scorekeeper and has had a season ticket for about ten years.
His favorite memory, Pecoraro said, was attending a game with his son Danny in 2019 when the Cyclones captured the championship over the Lowell Spinners.
“The Brooklyn Cyclones experience is about having a great time at the beach and seeing the future Mets,” he said.
The hope is that these future Mets bring their winning qualities to Queens as soon as possible.
