Down on the field at Keyspan Park this summer, the Cyclones won 22 times and lost on 16 occasions, but up in the press box, the biggest loss of all took place — one that could also be considered the biggest win of all.
That’s because Roy Volpe, a cameraman for the Cyclones, has lost more than 118 pounds since late March — and his weight loss continues.
Volpe, about to turn 39, was born and raised in Brooklyn, and he grew up in Bensonhurst.
“I wasn’t what you’d call an athlete while I was growing up,” said Volpe, “But I was athletic. I played baseball, softball and football.”
But over the years, Volpe kept putting on weight, and he would go on diets, lose weight, and then put it right back on, and then gain more weight.
Finally, this March, Volpe, who had ballooned to 430 pounds, noticed that he would be out of breath after walking merely a block.
Concerned about the effects of his weight on his health, Volpe went to a doctor, joined Weight Watchers, and began working out five days a week.
“I lift weights for an hour to an hour-and-a-half in each workout,” explains Volpe. “Then I workout for another hour to an hour-and-a-half on my cardio.”
Volpe works at Keyspan Park amid an environment tailored to taste bud temptations. The sights, sounds and smells of the ballpark tempt everyone there with appeals for peanuts, hot dogs and french fries. Volpe is literally surrounded by food, most of it fattening, yet he has been able to resist temptation.
“A lot of people lose weight and then plateau because they don’t exercise enough,” said Volpe. “It’s important to keep doing the exercise.”
Proud of his loss, Volpe wants to go public with his story to help others.
“Maybe when others read about me, they’ll be inspired to do the same thing,” he adds.
Eating plenty of grilled chicken and salads, Volpe has a few diet rules:
1. No fried food
2. No fast food
3. Limit “white food” — white bread, white rice, white flour — and especially sugar
4. No eating late at night
5. Portion control
6. Exercise five days a week (two/three hours a session)
Volpe, from his perch near the Catbird Seat at Keyspan Park, is always looking at you, the fan, through his camera lens as he pans the crowd between baseball action.
Next season, at the Home Opener, maybe you could look up at him. He vows to continue his healthy eating habits, and hopes you will join him as big losers — who in the big scheme of things — are becoming big winners.
Clones that are in the playoffs
Maybe the Cyclones didn’t make the playoffs this season, but plenty of Brooklyn Cyclones alumni did reach the post-season — as members of the single-A (low) Hagerstown (Maryland) Suns, the New York Mets affiliate in the South Atlantic League.
Hagerstown is the next step up the ladder from Brooklyn in the Mets minor league chain, and the roster is filled with Brooklyn alumni, not only from last year’s Cyclones, but from this year’s team as well.
The Suns won the league’s first half Northern Division championship. Even though the team finished last in the Northern Division in the second half, the club was guaranteed a playoff spot.
Former Cyclone Grant Psomas, an infielder with the Suns, hit .300 for the Suns this season, banging 19 homers. Suns infielder Matt Fisher played for the Cyclones in both 2004 and this year, and infielders Armand Gaerlan and Joe Mihalics both played in Brooklyn this season. James Burt and Yan Coultas, both Cyclones in 2004, are also infielders on the team
Other Cyclones on the squad include outfielders Ambiorix Concepcion, Corey Coles, and Kyle Brown; catcher Rafael Arroyo; and pitchers Mike Devaney, Joe Williams, Orlando Rengel and Edgar Alfonzo.
The Suns were at Delmarva, in Salisbury, Md., for the first game of a best-of-three series on Wednesday, Sept. 7, and Hagerstown plays the second game of this semi-final series at home, at Municipal Stadium, on Friday, Sept. 9 at 7:05 pm. Game three, if necessary, will be played on Saturday, also in Hagerstown, at 7:05 pm.
President’s prize
Brooklyn 3, Staten Island 2 — No, that’s not the score of a particular game, it’s how many times each club has won the Borough Presidents’ Trophy — annually presented to the team that wins the season series between the rivals. The trophy features a sculpture that represents the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, with each team’s respective ballparks at either end.
Staten Island, this year’s McNamara Division champs, won this year’s series, 7-5 (they also won the prize in 2002). Thus, the trophy resides for a year in Staten Island’s Borough Hall.
Last season, in greeting patrons via bullhorn at a Brooklyn-Staten Island game at Keyspan Park, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz playfully called Staten Island Yankee fans “Brooklyn wannabes,” and jokingly urged the Cyclones to “Send those Staten Islanders back over the bridge.”
“I don’t want [Staten Island Borough President James] Molinaro] getting the trophy,” said Markowitz in an interview with The Brooklyn Papers at Keyspan Park earlier this season while the fate of the season series was still in doubt.
Well, Staten Island does get the trophy for a year.
But, there’s the saying: “Wait ’til …”
Ah, fughedaboudit!
Workin hard or hardly workin?
When Brooklyn played at Aberdeen on Sept. 5, the Ironbirds celebrated the 10th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr. setting the all-time major league consecutive games record of 2,131.
Ripken spoke at the ballpark ceremonies before the game.
“I never tried to set a record for consecutive games played,” said Ripken. “I just tried to do what my father taught me, which was to show up at the ballpark each day, ready to play my best if the manager needed me.
“It’s good to look back a bit,” added Ripken, “but it’s also good to look forward, and I’m just as proud of this [the Ironbird’s home park, Cal Ripken Stadium and its surrounding complex] as I am of the streak. This is a place for family entertainment in my home town, and it’s also where young kids can learn the game of baseball.”
After the ceremonies, I asked Jay Moskowitz, the Ironbirds’ public relations coordinator, and former Brooklyn Cyclones staff member, if Ripken ever missed a day of work.
“Not too often,” said Moskowitz.
Another Aberdeen staffer added, “You try working for a man who never missed a game for that long. It’s pretty hard to ask for a vacation.
“But I tell him,” the staffer continued, “That if we only had to work 162 days a year, like him, we wouldn’t miss a day either.”.”
September 10, 2005 issue
