All-Stars Return to Brooklyn After 56 Years

When the Dodgers left for California in 1957, it was inevitable that if and when a baseball club ever returned to Brooklyn, it would compile a lot of firsts. The Cyclones last year became the first Brooklyn team since the Dodgers to welcome one million fans, and when they celebrated their fifth year anniversary at the beginning of the season, they became the first Brooklyn franchise to do so since the Brooklyn Dodgers were the Brooklyn Superbas.In fact, last night’s minor league allstar game at Keyspan Park (which also included a Home Run Derby of competing fans) wasn’t just the first in Brooklyn since 1949 – it was the first in the New York-Penn League’s 66-year history of Class-A baseball. So one couldn’t help but feel that the game itself, in which the National League affilliates defeated their American League counterparts 5-4, was almost secondary to the sense of history spilling out of Coney Island.Brooklyn’s last all-star game was a first as well. The 1949 contest, held before a crowd of 32,577 at Ebbets Field, was the first to feature black players, including Brooklyn’s own Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, and Don Newcombe, and Cleveland’s Larry Doby. When the final out was recorded that afternoon, the Brooklyn faithful had witnessed 42 players amass 25 hits, 18 runs, and six errors in an 11-7 victory for the National League.Crosstown rival Joe DiMaggio had two hits and three RBI to earn MVP honors. He played in the outfield alongside his bother Dom, who hit .307 that season for the Red Sox.Interestingly enough, the NL starter in the 1949 game, Warren Spahn, had pitched for the Bradford Phillies of the NY-PL (it was then the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York, or PONY league) 10 years earlier, the same year in which the Olean Oilers, a Brooklyn Dodgers affiliate, won the NY-PL regular-season and playoff championships.Fifty-six years later, Keyspan Park seemed a logical location for the NYPL’s inaugural All-Star game, since the Cyclones draw almost 10,000 fans to Brooklyn for every game. The league itself is the oldest continuously operated Class-A league in the minors.Last night, the Cyclones boasted three players on the team of National League affiliates: outfielder Joe Holden, third baseman Josh Petersen, and right-handed starter Bobby Parnell. But Joe DiMaggio’s Yankee brethren weren’t forgotten. The Staten Island Yankees currently lead the McNamara division (the Cyclones play in the same division) with a sparkling 40-19 record, and accordingly, their manager, former Yankee Andy Stankiewicz, managed the team of American League Affiliates. Righthanders David Seccombe, Joshua Schmidt, and infielder Kyle Larsen accompanied him.The Cyclones, led by former Met Mookie Wilson, are at 32-27, eight games back of the Yankees.The New York-Area NY-PL All-StarsJoe Holden Cyclones The Mets’ 21st-round pick this June is batting .316, good for eighth-best in the league, with 15 RBI and a .379 on-base average at the top of the order.Josh Petersen Cyclones A 22nd round pick in 2002, Peterson hit .253 with a .341 OBP last year at Rookie-level Kingsport, and has improved to .286 this season with three home runs and 22 RBI.Bobby Parnell Cyclones The Mets’ ninth-rounder in 2005 has broken out in Brooklyn with a 1.76 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 56.1 innings of work. He started last night’s All-Star game, allowing one run on two hits in two innings.David Seccombe Yankees Signed by the Yankees off the Surprise Fightin’ Falcons of the fledgling Golden Baseball League (Rickey Henderson’s current home), Seccombe has sprinted out to a 8-2 record with a 2.01 ERA.Joshua Schmidt Yankees A 15th-rounder out of the University of the Pacific, Schmidt has been touched for just one run in 24.1 innings out of the bullpen, striking out a dazzling 38 batters.Kyle Larsen Yankees Larsen, who was ironically selected by the Mets out of high school in 2001, was signed by the Bombers as an undrafted free agent out of Washington after hitting .273 with 8 homers and 36 RBI. He’s now batting cleanup for Staten Island to the tune of .318/.382/.495 with six homers and 41 RBI.

All-Stars Return to Brooklyn After 56 Years

All-Stars Return to Brooklyn After 56 Years

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