The Brooklyn Cyclones: Hardball Dreams and the New Coney Island

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Summary: The Brooklyn Cyclones: Hardball Dreams and the New Coney Isl
Review: Ben Osborne's second book is a solid journalistic foray that delves into the political, regional, and economic contexts surrounding the return of professional baseball to the borough of Brooklyn 44 years after the Dodgers took off for California. The first season of the minor league Cyclones, an afiliate of the New York Mets, who play in the New York-Penn League, is recounted in detail through the eyes of Anthony Otero, a kid from the projects and Coney Island native who dreams of playing for the Yankees but had never been to a professional game before the Cyclones came to town and Brett Kay, a Californian catching prospect drafted by the Mets and farmed out to the Class A Cyclones to begin his big league career.

From the potitical manuevering of Rudy Giuliani to the construction of the incredible Keyspan Park at Coney Island to the season long sellout crowds Ben Osborne crafts a riviting story and fascinating read that encompasses both historical and cultural perspectives while exploring the media circus that followed the Cyclones in their inaugual season. The book is about more then just baseball. It's about the inner city struggle, big city politics, and hardball dreams. An accurate portrayal and intriguing analysis of the realities facing Brooklyn and Coney Island today.

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Summary: Bleeding Dodger Blue
Review: Great book that brought back a lot of memories of faded Brooklyn Glory. Osborne captures the details of a summer in the minors leagues from the fresh cut grass of a new season to the hope of Major League stardom.

Warning: This book has a tendency to make the reader into a die hard Cyclones fan.

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Summary: old school bk baseball is back
Review: Great book. Loved the historical aspects, and the personal stories of the player and local kid. A great gift for father's day, espcially for anyone with Brooklyn roots or a love of baseball.

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Summary: Baseball's back........
Review: With Ben Osborne's newest book, The Brooklyn Cyclones, Hardball Dreams and the New Coney Island, baseball is displayed, honored, and celebrated in such a way that my "jones" for a bleacher seat, a dog and a draft has spiraled out of control. This tale of baseball's return to Brooklyn is much more than just an account of the 2001 season of the Mets' Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones. It is a socially in-depth look into baseballs' influence on not only a community (in this place, the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn), and the city of New York at large, but also on two specific individuals. The two featured in this beautifully crafted piece of work are contrasts in background and involvement with the club. The first featured character is catching prospect, Brett Kay. A native Californian, who had never stepped foot in the Big Apple prior, Kay brings a natural energy to the club, as well as a strong bat and solid defensive play behind the plate. As a single-A prospect, Kay like many others in his position, the Cyclones are the first step in his pursuit of his dream of one day playing in the bigs.
The second individual featured is 13-year old Coney Island resident, Anthony Otero Jr. A big fan of the game of baseball, Otero is the leader of a group of Coney teenagers, who in stark contrast to the borough's basketball history, enjoy using the blacktops for hardball instead of roundball. Living just 15 blocks from the site of KeySpan Park (the cyclone's beautiful boardwalk-side stadium), Osborne chronicles Otero's interest in the team, alongside his own aspirations of one day playing pro ball. Possibly the most intriguing portions of the book, are the historical sections which detail Brooklyn's rich baseball tradition with the Dodgers, the economic rise and fall of Coney Island, and finally ex-mayor, Rudy Guilani's attempt to use the genesis of the team as a cornerstone of his "legacy" as mayor.

In the end, this slice of Americana is truly an enjoyable read. A tale which intertwines many different faces of the American sports fan, from the prospect, to the fierce political leader, to the local kid from the projects. How these individuals affect and are ultimately affected by the team is the true story line. A couple years later, Kay puts it perfectly in the book's final thought, "that season in Brooklyn was something that I'll never experience again."