The only manager to lead the Brooklyn Cyclones to a New York-Penn League championship is back for another tenure as skipper.
Edgar Alfonzo will try to bring the magic back to a team that hasn’t guzzled champagne since his 2001 Cyclones went all the way in the franchise’s inaugural season.
“We are extremely excited to have Fonzie back in Brooklyn,” Cyclones’ General Manager, Steve Cohen said in the understatement of the year. “He is a proven winner.”
Last year’s manager, George Greer, presided over a topsy-turvy, 41-33 season that began with seven straight losses, peaked as the team reached first place midway through the campaign, ended with a mad dash for the last wild-card berth and crashed dismally with a first-round playoff sweep by the hated Staten Island Yankees.
Like all prior managers before him — an A-list of Mets legends that includes Howard Johnson, Tim Teufel and Mookie Wilson — Greer was not invited back to Keyspan Park.
Under Alfonzo, whose brother, Edgardo, was a beloved member of the 2000 National League Champion New York Mets, the Cyclones were 52-24, and Alfonzo was named Baseball America’s “manager of the year” — and not just for the New York-Penn League, but for all of short-season baseball.
After that thrilling season, the Clones swept a best-of-three playoff series from the Yankees before splitting the first two games of the final series with the Williamsport Crosscutters.
The series was suspended because of the Sept. 11 attacks and both teams were named champions.
But that’s ancient history as far as Cyclones fans are concerned.
“The phrase that comes to mind is, ‘The magic is back!’” said Mark Lazarus, the self-professed “Mayor of Section 14” and a season-ticketholder for the life of the team.
“I believe in deja-vu. We had great success with Edgar the first year and we will have great success with him again. There was such a fire in the dugout when he was here.”
Lazarus’s enthusiasm was not only about the Cyclones’ on-field performance under Alfonzo.
“The best thing about him was how much fun we — the fans — had with him,” Lazarus said. “He was so accessible. We all love him and his family.”
Right back at you, said the 39-year-old Alfonzo.
“I have amazing memories of my time in Brooklyn, and I can’t wait to get back there for another season,” said Alfonzo, who has been a minor-league coordinator for the Mets organization for the past three years. “Being a part of that first year was something very special.”
When asked why, Alfonzo made it plain: “The fans,” he said. “Those fans are different from anywhere else. They gave us support, and they gave us energy. … I know they’ll do the same thing this year.”
Greer’s departure did not mean wholesale changes to the Cyclone management team. Pitching coach Hector Berrios will return for his fourth season and coach Guadalupe Jabalera and trainer Matt Hunter will also be back.
