Monday night’s game featured the hotly anticipated appearance of Miss Coney Island, Julie Atlas Muz, to throw out the first ball.

And, true to her vocation as the neighborhood’s duly elected beauty queen, Muz was awaiting her turn in the Cyclone dugout wearing a uniform that consisted solely of a skimpy blue two-piece bikini.

She was attracting a considerable amount of attention from fans and Cyclone players alike — bikinis being what they are, after all — when a team official asked her to cover up, as her attire was not considered family friendly.

The angelic Muz (pronounced MUSE, believe it or not) ended up taking to the mound in a skimpy red nurse’s outfit and high-heeled boots.

Once there, she shook her considerable assets in the general direction of the grandstand seats and threw a high hard one to the catcher.

For a second, fans were reminded that they were in Coney Island.

“I think it’s crap,” Muz said later, when asked about the cover-up.

“There is more than one way to celebrate the family. A bikini is a celebration of the body and by celebrating the body, we get families.”

— Gersh Kuntzman

One win, but no worries

Greer’s job safe despite 1–7 start

The Brooklyn Papers The Cyclones lost their first seven games before finally winning on Wednesday night — so is it too early to wonder whether manager George Greer is about to be handed the pink lineup card?

Yes, it is.

Unlike the win-at-all-costs world of major-league baseball, minor-league managers typically don’t get fired unless they show up drunk or expose themselves to a nun.

But we are talking 1–7, here!

Cyclones General Manager Steve Cohen laughed at the suggestion that Greer could be canned — but he didn’t walk away from this reporter, either.

“It’s safe to say that his job is secure,” Cohen told The Brooklyn Papers, admitting that he had heard of minor-league skippers who had been fired for not motivating his troops to do that thing they’re supposed to do, what’s that called again? Oh, yeah, win.

When confronted with the question — “Are you about to be fired?” — Greer just giggled (hear it www.BrooklynPapers.com).

“I don’t know!” he said.

He then explained that his job is to keep “the kids” focused.

“The mood of the team is good and positive,” he said. “They’re trying their hardest — maybe too hard. But the biggest thing to learn is that the next day starts 30 minutes after the last out. You have to shake it off.”

Headline-grabbing speculation aside, Greer is getting good marks from his players for not throwing bats all over the clubhouse like managers do in all the good baseball movies. (Come to think of it, he does resemble Tom Hanks in “A League of their Own.”)

“He’s been calm,” said utility man Jeremy Hambrice. “He hasn’t had an outburst. He’s stayed positive.”

Pitcher Jeremy Mizell also appreciated Greer’s steady approach.

“He tells us what we did wrong, what we did right and what we can build on,” Mizell said. “It’s a business-like atmosphere. He doesn’t yell and scream.” (No screaming? What business is he talking about?)

Mizell added that none of the Cyclones were “pressing” for their first win and that “there’s no tension” in the clubhouse.

Almost on cue, pitcher Tim Haines came over and playfully poked Mizell in his sunflower-seed-stuffed cheeks.

“We get frustrated, sure, but we’re on the verge of winning,” he added.

“One thing we’ve learned is that you don’t change the way you do things just because things aren’t going well.”

That man could be president.

— Gersh Kuntzman

New voice at Keyspan

Players and coaches move on year by year, but the look, the feel, the sound of Keyspan Park is supposed to remain the same.

That probably explains why some fans are struggling to adjust to new public address announcer Sean Howard, who has replaced the longtime voice of Keyspan, Dom Alagia.

While Howard is still developing her style, it’s safe to say she’s a break from the past. Where Alagia was calm and scholarly, Howard is perky.

Where Alagia had a trademark line, “Cyclones up!” to start the bottom of every inning, Howard is still searching for a way to make her mark.

Where Alagia very rarely upped the modulation in his voice to reflect a home park sensibility, Howard simply emphasizes everything.

“She’s different, let’s put it that way,” said Mable Marzigliano, a Cyclones booster since 2001, who is often identified as the “monkey lady” because of the simian dolls she wears around her neck. “I thought [Alagia] was great. I thought he was baseball. You’re used to men announcing.”

Howard told The Brooklyn Papers that she had no prior baseball announcing experience, forcing her to learn the nuances of the game every night.

She thinks she’s getting there.

“I think you have to find your own style and your own way of doing things,” said Howard, a 2004 graduate of Syracuse University.

It’s obviously a work in progress. During a recent game, Staten Island Yankee slugger Jeff Fortenberry lined a single into right field. As Cyclones right fielder Dustin Martin scooped up the ball, Howard announced, “Now batting, third baseman, Mitch Hilligoss!” Martin proceeded to overthrow the third baseman, the ball hit the visitors’ dugout, and the Yankees took a 1–0 lead.

And in a game this week, after a batter went to the dugout to pick up some new lumber, Howard announced him as the next batter when he returned to the plate.

— Nick Pauly

July 1/8, 2006 issue  

©2006 Community Newspaper Group