Green-Wood Volunteers go to Cyclones Baseball

(Click on all photos to enlarge)
We had the opportunity to go to a minor league baseball game this past weekend as part of a free promotion through Green -Wood Cemetery, where my husband and I volunteer as Civil War Veteran Research Volunteers. You can read about the 6 year research project here.
The magnificent Victorian front gate of this historical cemetery can be seen in the photo above.

Below is the view of Manhattan over Brooklyn rooftops from one of the hills in Green-Wood. I love the vistas from certain areas of the cemetery!

This is the view of the Statue of Liberty from the same hill, with some of the Brooklyn docks in the foreground.

We gathered by the front gate as we were all going to ride together to the baseball game on the Green -Wood Cemetery "Trolley." The trolley takes visitors on scheduled tours of Green-Wood Cemetery which is now a National Historic Landmark, and has long been considered one of the world's most beautiful cemeteries. It is the final resting place of nearly 600,000 people, including some of history's most memorable figures. It has 478 acres filled with thousands of trees, flowering shrubs and four lakes.

Henry Chadwick, the "Father of Baseball" is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, so in a way baseball has been a part of Brooklyn for a very long time!

We were going to attend a Cyclone game, a minor league baseball team who are affiliated with the New York Mets. The Brooklyn Cyclones, named after the famous Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island, are Brooklyn's first professional baseball team since 1957, when the Dodgers left Ebbets Field for Los Angeles.

The sculpture seen below, which is located outside the park entrance, commemorates a turning point in baseball history when then Brooklyn Dodgers team captain Harold Henry "Pee Wee" Reese showed his support for Jackie Robinson, the first Major League black baseball player, while Robinson was being heckled during a game at the Cincinnati Reds ball park in 1947.

KeySpan Park, home to the Brooklyn Cyclones, opened in June 2001. Located on Surf Avenue in Coney Island, it was built on the old site of Steeplechase Park, an amusement park that closed in the 1960's. It's a beautiful modern stadium with neon lights, a boardwalk connecting the infield and outfield seats, and the Atlantic Ocean is visible over the right field fence.

On December 15, 2002, a 9/11 tribute was unveiled on the outside walls of Keyspan Park called The Wall of Remembrance ,which honors the 116 fallen firefighters from Brooklyn and Brooklyn firehouses, including Father Mychal Judge, the Fire Department Chaplin, who gave the ultimate sacrifice on September 11, 2001


Each of the 116 firefighters' faces are laser engraved on black granite, their names, ranks and firehouses also appears. The design also includes a six-foot bronze sculptured statue of two surviving firefighters holding the helmet of a fallen firefighter.

Ultimately the names of Brooklyn Police and PAPD officers who also lost their lives on 9/11 were added. (photo above)

Inside, the ballpark's scoreboard features a silhouette of the Cyclone roller coaster in honor of the home team.

KeySpan Park opened with a capacity of 6,500, but the Cyclones were so popular that additional seats were added and the capacity is now approximately 8,000. The evening we attended the game they played the Hudson Valley Renegades.



Keyspan features a party deck for groups, skyboxes, and a two-story Cyclones team souvenir store, plus many food and drink concessions

Many fun and lively competitions, songs and dances and tee shirt give aways are held between innings, which makes the game fun for children to attend. Below we can see the end of a hot-dog race where fans root for the dogs topped with mustard, ketchup or relish. Guess who won?

Sandy The Seagull is the mascot of the Cyclones. In the photo below we can see him lead the crowd in a chant.

A close up of the score board with the actual historical Coney Island Cyclone Roller Coaster in the background.


The Cyclones won the game 3 to 1! It was a lot of fun and we all rode back to the cemetery to pick up our cars to go home.

It was a nice way to end the Labor Day weekend and to say goodbye to summer.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too!