On Thursday, Aug. 14, the Cyclones will put a new spin on the popular post-game promotion of letting kids run the bases — but it may take a bit more time.
Any given Sunday, kids 14 and under are offered the opportunity to scurry around the bases after the game. Usually, they start lining up in the eighth inning just to get a chance to get on the field.
But on Thursday — children beware — it’s grandma and grandpa’s turn.
In a promotion sponsored by Sunrise Assisted Living and aimed at senior citizens, grownups 55 and older will be invited to “Walk the Bases” after Thursday’s game, which starts at noon.
Now, some might say that naming a promotion for seniors “Walk the Bases” is ageist — who’s to tell a senior he or she can’t run the bases?
“I would probably jog the bases,” said Cyclones fan Paul Montanaro, of Bensonhurst, who also happens to be this reporter’s 76-year-old great uncle. “But I guess they think that with seniors, they’ll get a better response if they call it ‘walk the bases’ instead of ‘run the bases.’ Some might get intimidated by that.”
And just as you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge a promotion by it’s name.
“Well, we’re not going to tackle someone if they run,” said Cyclones spokesman Anthony Nicoletti. “If someone wants to run the bases, they can.”
Any senior wanting to walk — or jog, or run — the bases at Keyspan Park, head out on Thursday. As an added incentive, the first 100 seniors (with age identification) who arrive at Keyspan will be given free tickets to the game.
Any season ticket holder interested in donating tickets to a senior citizen that day can call Anthony Colletti, of Sunrise Assisted Living, at (718) 444-2600. Sunrise will then distribute the tickets to Brooklyn seniors.
— Vince DiMiceli
Keep him in, coach
First baseman Ian Bladergroen is trying to go where no Cyclone has gone before by playing in every game this season. As of press time, the 20-year-old Albuquerque native had appeared in all of the Cyclones’ 48 games (starting 47 of them and pinch-hitting in another). No Cyclone in history has ever come close to such a streak.
“I just love being in the lineup,” Bladergroen said. “Sure, you get bumped and bruised, but it’s just so great being in the game. It’s why we’re here.”
Bladergroen’s Ripken-esque streak may be bad news for first-basemen at the Mets’ rookie-league affiliate in Kingsport, Tenn., but it’s great news for Cyclones fans. Not only is “The Blade” the team’s most-consistent hitter, what with his .278 average, three homers and 17 RBIs, but he’s a standup guy who always makes time for the fans. He’s quick with a joke and he’ll even high-five the kids in the front row as he makes his way to the on-deck circle.
—Gersh Kuntzman
Tyson’s cooking
Remember the name Tyson Hanish — hopefully, he’ll be a Hall of Famer some day.
That’s my dream now that I am the official holder of a Hanish foul ball.
During Friday’s rain-soaked engagement, the hit-challenged Bomber (.107 average as of Sunday) fouled a ball into the press box.
There, where only the most ardent of reporters remained after an extensive delay and lack of fisticuffs sent most home, the ball bounced around underneath the feet of the Staten Island Yankees radio team before settling in a row of press seats below them.
Having seen Hanish play more often than I, they must have been in a complete state of shock that he had even made contact with the ball. Either that, or the brave warriors of the booth just wouldn’t abandon their positions for a Hanish hardball.
I wasn’t so shy about it.
I gingerly walked around the twosome, went down the steps, and picked it up — just before a member of Cyclones announcer Warner Fusselle’s entourage (yes, he has an entourage) was about to make a move for it.
I will proudly display the ball next to the one flipped into the stands by former New York Yankee Alvaro Espinoza in 1989, which I got to before that slow-footed 12-year-old could reach it.
— DiMiceli
The art of the hotfoot
It’s a time-honored baseball tradition: Someone sneaks up behind an unsuspecting teammate and lights his spikes on fire. The pain builds so gradually that the dupe never even knows why his foot is becoming more uncomfortable — until it’s too late, and he starts jumping around the dugout like someone just hammered a nail into his shoe.
Cyclones pitcher Tanner Osberg is keeping the tradition alive at Keyspan Park.
The bawdy Canadian shared his technique with The Brooklyn Papers: “Basically, you wait until a guy is leaning over the dugout rail watching the game and then you take a long piece of athletic tape, twirl the bottom into a kind of fuse, and tape it to the back of the shoe. Then you light it and watch the fireworks.”
Fans may think that the hotfoot is a prescription for team dissension, what with the victims resenting the perpetrator, but the opposite is true. “The hotfoot is an invaluable tool,” Osberg said. “It keeps the guys’ spirits up, which is important when you’re playing 76 games in 79 days. It’s a grind.”
— Kuntzman
August 11, 2003 issue
