The last remaining question as to how much of a success or failure for the borough have been the Brooklyn Cyclones — the single-A baseball team playing its second season at the taxpayer-funded Keyspan Park in Coney Island — is being answered weekdays between 8 am and 3 pm on a new turf field built between the stadium and the Riegelmann Boardwalk.
There, for no fee whatsoever, kids ages 9-14 from Coney Island and beyond are learning how to play baseball, taking math, English and life-skills classes, and eating breakfast and lunch thanks to a partnership between the Board of Education, the Police Athletic League (PAL) and the Brooklyn Cyclones — owned and operated by New York Mets co-owner and Brooklyn native Fred Wilpon.
While the city has built the field (which can be used for baseball, soccer or football) as part of the Parks Department’s $24 million renovation of Coney Island, the Board of Ed is supplying the food, and the PAL is staffing the clinic, it is Wilpon who has put up the money to pay the staff and supplied necessary tables and tents.
Equipment is being supplied by the Cyclones and their corporate sponsors in the endeavor — Keyspan Energy, Verizon, J.P. Morgan Chase and Independence Community Bank.
Because of all this, each day for two weeks this summer, 125 boys and girls show up and, free of charge, have something to do — and eat — with the added benefit of adult supervision.
Called “NAT’s Kids” — an acronym for “Neighborhood All-star Team” and the shortened, Coney Island-friendly name of Wilpon’s father, Nathan — the program will be a summer getaway for a total of 375 kids during three two-week clinics.
It is, quite simply, a nice piece of corporate responsibility during a time of Enron and ImClone scandals.
It’s also one of the first true signs that Wilpon, a graduate of Lafayette High School, is looking to give back to the community that allowed him to field a low-level minor league team in the fourth-largest city in the world.
“Originally, the program was only supposed to be for 9 through 12 year olds,” said PAL Executive Director John Ryan.
“But Mr. Wilpon heard that Lafayette High School didn’t field a baseball team this year, so he upped the age to 14, hoping that it would help fill their roster in years to come.”
Most of the children in attendance on Friday were locals, recruited from schools near Keyspan Park like PS 288, PS 329, Mark Twain Junior High School and Our Lady of Solace Catholic school. On Friday, they were all having a good time.
“It’s very well organized, I have to say,” said 11-year-old Sabrina Aponte of Coney Island. “I look forward to coming everyday.”
As do, it seems, most of the kids — as the 96-percent attendance rate can attest.
The kids receive a breakfast at 8 am before performing calisthenics. Then, they’re broken up into groups of 18 to 30 that are watched over by 20 counselors, two baseball specialists, three teachers and two directors — an astounding one adult to every four kids.
While baseball lessons begin for some, others head off to class, where, according to Police Officer Maritza Solano, for 45 minutes at a clip they’re taught different subjects by playing games.
“It’s not like when they’re in school,” she said. “We teach things like listening and concentration by playing counting games, and we help them build self esteem and confidence by having them throw a ball into a box.”
For English skills, the kids read “Casey at the Bat.” For math, they played “Math Bingo.”
“We draw them in with the baseball, and them we funnel them over to life skills, arts and language arts and math,” said camp director Matt Rozzi. “And we plan on keeping in touch with the kids throughout the school year.”
That point is the most interesting one about the program, which also features mentors from St. Francis College for what Rozzi calls “a big brother, big sister thing.”
Rozzi says that members of the staff will reach out to the children throughout the school year just to see how they are doing. On top of that, plans are in the working for an overnight trip to upstate Cooperstown to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame in September.
This summertime sundae of fun also comes with two cherries on top — the chance to play a game on the professional field at Keyspan Park at the end of each session, and a total of 200 tickets given out to a Cyclones game during the season.
Not a bad development for kids that live in an area that used to be home to the most under-used waterfront property in the world.
By now, everyone knows that, financially, the Cyclones have been a huge success. Between the sales of tickets, team paraphernalia and concessions to the baseball-starved fans of Brooklyn, the ’Clones will surely be one of the more profitable minor league franchises in baseball.
In the meantime, they’ve helped fill a hole that was sorely missing from the borough’s psyche — a professional team to call its own. One year later, it is easy to see that the Cyclones and Brooklyn do fit like hand in baseball glove.
But ultimately, the team’s “success” won’t be determined by how many New York-Penn League championship banners fly over Borough Hall, or the total number of people that push through the turnstiles on Surf Avenue.
The Cyclones’ success will be determined by things like “NAT’s Kids,” where, instead of paying to see their favorite team play, local kids get to experience — free of charge — the renaissance of their neighborhood.
July 22, 2002 issue