On Sunday night, the Cyclones introduced a new mascot — Pee Wee — a slimmed-down version of Sandy the Seagull who was hatched from an egg found by Sandy earlier this year.
The new fan favorite wears its Cyclones cap (with propeller spinning wildly atop it) backwards, has red shorts and blue high-top sneakers, which are probably much more comfortable and easier on the feet then Sandy’s beach sandals. It is not yet known who left Pee Wee — named for Brooklyn Dodgers captain Pee Wee Reese — for Sandy to find, but we’re pretty sure the General, the famous rooster of Grand Army Plaza, had something to do with it.
— Vince DiMiceli
Don’t cork it
Rookie Ryan Harvey doesn’t miss the ping, but he does miss the pop.
The 23-year-old Californian joined the Cyclones having never used a wooden bat in his entire career — not in Little League, not in Babe Ruth, not in high school and not in college. In his senior year at the University of California-Riverside, he hit .411 with nine homers, thanks in part to his metallic wand.
But wood is the only material you can bring to the batters box in professional baseball. The first week of the season saw Harvey struggling to adjust.
“You can’t let yourself get beat with wood like you can with aluminum,” he said. “And the wood bat has a much smaller sweet spot.” That was clear from Harvey’s first hit as a Cyclone: He broke his bat.
“But my second hit had such a great sound,” he said. “I don’t miss the ‘ping’ of an aluminum bat at all.”
After a slow start, Harvey is now batting .259.
— Gersh Kuntzman
Free-for-all
By now, everyone knows that Brooklyn Papers sports columnist Ed Shakespeare’s book about the Cyclones’ first season, “When Baseball Returned to Brooklyn,” has been difficult to find at your local book store, despite the fact that it is available at Amazon.com, with a direct link from our very own Web site.
But what about those people — especially those who sit with or near Shakespeare behind the Cyclones dugout at just about every home game — who don’t have access to the Internet, and, quite possibly, don’t want to pay full price.
That scenario played out right before our eyes prior to a game last week, when a friendly fan screamed the following toward a busily reporting Shakespeare from the stands:
“Hey Shakespeare!” the fan yelled. “What do I gotta pay you to get a free copy of your book!?!”
— DiMiceli
Alumni News
Although no Cyclone has ever pitched a no-hitter, three former Cyclone pitchers have felt at least part of the thrill of pitching a no-hit, no-run this year for the Port St. Lucie Mets, one of the Mets’ two full-season class-A teams.
On May 9, former Cyclones pitchers Wayne Ough and Mike Cox combined to blank the Tampa Yankees, 5-0. A few weeks later, another former Cyclone, Ken Chenard, pitched five innings of no-hit ball only to be relieved by Cox, who got the save with two similarly stingy innings. (The game was only seven innings because it was part of a doubleheader, but it does officially count as a no-hitter.)
— Kuntzman
July 7, 2003 issue
