Open for Business
The Baby Bums are back!
Cyclones super-fans return to the stands after a 616-day hiatus
BY BEN VERDE
Dave Delaware sat in his
perch in the stands just to
the right of home plate, working
himself into a sweat. The
diehard Brooklyn Cyclones
fan showed no mercy — heckling
every single member
of the Hudson Valley Renegades
who came up to bat, and
cheering on every member of
Cyclones.
“Shake it off 23! It doesn’t
even matter!” he shouted, his
heckles especially audible in
the reduced capacity crowd of
1,315, when Cyclones pitcher
Jose Butto gave up a two-run
home run during the Clones
3-4 home opener loss to Hudson
Valley. “We got bats! Let’s
get back to work!”
Delaware earned the nickname
because he drives up
from The Diamond State to
catch Cyclones home games,
making the two-hour drive
multiple times a week out of
devotion to the minor league
franchise.
“I fell in love with those
guys a couple years
back when I got my
season tickets, when
I came up and experienced
the beach,”
Delaware said. “The
organization is top
class, there’s no doubt
about it.”
Delaware was resuming
his super-fandom
after a 600-day
pandemic-induced
shutdown of the Minor
League Baseball
system, which saw
the league shook up
and the Clones promoted
to a High A full
season affi liate of the
New York Mets.
The Baby Bums
home opener May 18
was the fi rst baseball
game played for spectators
at the newly renamed Maimonides
Park on Surf Avenue
since the Cyclones took
home the 2019 New York Penn
League Championship, the
last championship for the
stately league before it was
dissolved in the reshuffl ing of
the minor leagues — leaving
Cyclones devotees with memories
Caribbean L 22 ife, MAY 21-27, 2021
to treasure while they
bided their time during the
summer of 2020.
“Three minutes and 10
seconds of splendor,” said super
fan David Pecoraro, reviewing
his cellphone video
of the last minutes of the
Clones championship game.
“Andrew Edwards strikes out
Alex Erro. Ballgame over! Series
over! Cyclones win!”
After a summer spent sitting
on the couch watching the
Mets play in an eerily empty
Citi Field, Pecoraro, a retired
PLAY BALL: 1,315 fans returned to the newly named Maimonides
Field on May 19, among them, the Schneiders, pictured
at left in their usual seats behind home plate.
Photos by Ben Verde
public school
teacher nicknamed
“The Wolf” among
stadium denizens
for his wild white
beard and mane of
hair, getting back
to his usual seat behind
the home dugout
is a homecoming
after following
the team since its
inception in 2001.
“600-odd days
since I took the pictures here
on championship night,” he
said. “You think I’ve been
counting the days?”
For fellow day-one fan Ralph
Schneider, who has been regularly
attending games at the
seaside ballpark with his father
Larry Schneider since the franchise’s
600-odd days
since I took the
pictures here on
championship night.
You think I’ve been
counting the days?
inception in 2001, being
back in the stands with his dad
is as strong a sign of normalcy
that he is yet to see.
“It feels right,” the younger
Schneider said. “It’s a symbol
that things are returning to
somewhat normal, or at least
the new normal.”