It wouldn’t be summer in Brooklyn without the Cyclones, and — thank the baseball gods — the long winter comes to an end on June 20, when our Boys of Summer take on their cross-Narrows rivals, the hated Staten Island Yankees, at beloved MCU Park.
The Brooks are looking to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2012 campaign — a three-year drought that is the longest in franchise history, and one that has fans dreaming that this year will finally be the proverbial next year.
Leading the Mini Mets for the second year in a row will be Hollywood icon Tom Gamboa, known as Scout Martinez to movie buffs for his role in the Academy Award-nominated “Moneyball,” who hopes to improve on last year’s disappointing (to us) 42–34 record.
We all know Gamboa can do better, as the former third-base coach for the Chicago Cubs and first-base coach for the Kansas City Royals once led the Palm Springs Power of the Southern California Collegiate Baseball League to a 34–4.
Pitching coach Tom Signore is also back, and in a total blast from the past, former Cyclone catcher Yunir Garcia — who batted .177 with the squad as a 20-year-old in 2003 — joins Brooklyn as the new hitting coach. Former Met All-Star Edgardo Alfonzo will also be back as guest first-base coach, primarily for home games and nearby road games.
And it wouldn’t be a Cyclones season without nationally-celebrated publicity stunts like last year’s world-renowned “Seinfeld Night.” This year, Clones management will try to catch lightening in a bottle again with “Bigger, Better, and Bania Night,” based on the minor “Seinfeld” character.
There are also days honoring the ’80s teen series “Saved By The Bell,” and blockbusters “Star Wars,” “Back To The Future,” and “Toy Story.” Fictional Met pitcher Sidd Finch, who was the subject of an April Fools’ profile in Sports Illustrated 30 years ago, will be honored with a bobblehead. Fans will have three pitches (combined) to match Finch’s supposed 168 miles-per-hour fastball.
And expect plenty of explosive action and razzle-dazzle off as well as on the diamond, as the Cyclones will also put on post-game fireworks after 13 games.
Brooklyn Cyclones minor-league baseball at MCU Park [Surf Avenue between W. 16th and W. 19th streets in Coney Island, (718) 449–8497, www.brook
