What a great night under the parachute drop. Talk about your field of dreams experience. It was one of those perfect nights to be at a baseball game – relaxed and warm under clear skies. The stadium was filled with families; there was no violence, no drunks – just people out for a good time in an all-American setting with their kids. Hotdogs and beer. It was all there. The Cyclones are a minor league baseball team in the single "A" New York - Penn League, affiliated with the New York Mets. It was the final regular season game (a 5-4 victory over the Lowell Spinners), and the Cyclones set an all time single game attendance record of 10,073. Nothing miraculous happened – not great baseball but it made me very homesick for America.
It was also Brooklyn Bridge bobble head night. Quite a thing and Donald was kind enough to make sure I went home with one! A descendant of Charlie Ebbet threw out the ceremonial first ball. How poetic.
Brooklyn and baseball go a long way back and unfortunately there has been no professional baseball in the borough since the Dodgers (National League) had left Ebbets Field for California in the 1950’s.
The story of this desertion has been written about at length, you can find many articles on the internet and websites dedicated to Ebbets field. Brooklyn mourned the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn. The nostalgia is unbelievable. They are still mourning! The Dodgers won pennants 1953, 1955 and 1956. I was born the year the Dodgers won the 1955 World Series (the first and only world title in Brooklyn Dodger history) and I know there are members of my family who remember my age by it. 
Jackie Robinson became the first black man in the 20th century to play in Major League Baseball in Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947. Brooklyn is very proud of that but the Dodgers left for California and Ebbets Field was demolished in 1960. In 1964 the Mets become a new baseball franchise, not in Brooklyn but in Queens. I went to my first professional baseball game at Shea Stadium that opening week (thanks to Denise’s father George) and have been a Mets fan ( I know….!) ever since. 
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