STAN ISAACS
Out of Left Field
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 Even after 44 years, Brooklyn fans still miss the Dodgers, aka "Dem Bums" |
Incessant longing by sports fans: That's life in nostalgic Brooklyn
By
STAN ISAACS
of TheColumnists.com
NEW YORK was bathed in
Brooklyn nostalgia last week. And it was just grand.
Organized baseball came back to Brooklyn with the debut of the
minor league Brooklyn Cyclones. It had been 44 years since Walter
(The Evil) O’Malley spirited the beloved Dodgers out of
the borough in pursuit of the shekels of the golden west. A full
house of 7,500 fans came out to the opening of the Class A league
game in Coney Island between the Cyclones and the Mahoning Valley
(near Cleveland) Scrappers. Happiness reigned.
People wore old Dodgers paraphanalia. They lined up all game
long at the souvenir store to buy the caps and t-shirts of the
Cyclones. They cheered every reference to the Dodgers. They loved
the sight of some of the remaining members of the madcap Sym-phony
band that used to parade around Ebbets Field. There were even
more cheers than boos for the embattled New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani,
a Yankee fan.
The new ball park is called Keyspan Park because, as is the fashion
these days, the utility company paid big bucks to affix its name
to the park. I prefer Steeplechase Park because the ball yard
is on the site of Steeplechase Park, the famous old Coney Island
amusement park that dated back to the late 1800s. At one time
Coney Island had three amusement parks: Luna Park, Dreamland
(from whence the song, “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland”
came) and Steeplechase, which outlasted them all before closing
down in 1964 when Coney Island had deteriorated.
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FOR ME, growing up in Brooklyn in the early 1940s, Coney Island was a magic place. I kept a note in my wallet on which I calculated the amusement attractions I would go on if I had the munificent sum of a $1.50. I listed the bumper cars three times, cost 30 cents; the Cyclone once, 15 cents; the Tornado, once, 10 cents; buy two Nathans hot dogs and a pineapple drink, 25 cents. And so on.
This new Cyclones park, costing $39 million dollars, built with public funds, is part of a plan by the city to renovate Coney Island, rescue it from the trash heap of dilapidated housing, rutty streets and a general malaise that has prevailed since the 1960s when violence at the beach and in the amusement areas robbed it of its middle class visitors. “We brought back 42nd Street,” Giuliani said, “we did it with 125th Street. We will do it with Coney Island.” More power to him.
The Steeplechase Park ball field is a handsome place that resonates with nostalgia. The landmark parachute jump ride looms over the field from an area beyond the right field fence in foul territory. The field looks out in right field at the Atlantic Ocean. Regrettably the beach is between the ocean and the field so there is no chance that batters could, a la Barry Bonds in San Francisco, hit home runs into the ocean, which is some 800 feet away. Beyond the left field fence, fans can see the Nathan’s building and beyond that the scariest of all roller coaster rides, the Cyclone, after which this new Mets farm team was named.
In a bow to the famous “hit sign, win suit” of clothier Abe Stark at Ebbets Field, there is a similar sign for Garage Clothes at this park. It is in left-center field, a more reachable target than the Stark sign under the scoreboard in right-center field at Ebbets Field.
The amusement area theme is underscored by the light standards around the ball park. Spinning neon circles, each a different color, gird the light standards in a gaudy silhoutte once darkness descends. The team’s games are three-quarters sold out for the season and the opening night crowd enjoyed the bonus of a come-from-behind victory by the Cyclones. They tied, 2-2, in the bottom of the ninth on a two-run homer and won in the tenth, 3-2, on a sacrifice fly. The crowd reacted as if old Dodger Duke Snider had delivered the heroics.
AMID THE HUBBUB of the new team, plans moved ahead toward the erection of a statue honoring Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson. This stemmed from a eulogy I delivered at a memorial for Reese upon his death two years ago. I suggested that a proper memorial for Reese would be a commemoration of the great moment when Reese came to Robinson’s support.
One day in Robinson’s first season, 1947, when he was breaking the color line in organized baseball, Reds players and fans in the stands in Cincinnati were spewing invective at Robinson during fielding practice. Reese, the Dodgers captain and a Louisville native, made a point of walking over from shortstop to where Robinson stood between first and second base and put his arm around him. This show of support heartened Robinson and it is regarded as an achievement over and above the baseball skills of Reese’s distinguished career.
The mayor’s office seized on the statue idea. Last week a meeting was held at the Windows on the World restaurant high above New York harbor at which six sculptors who are vying for the assignment of fashioning the Reese-Robinson sculptor heard reminiscensces of the pair by ex-Dodgers Ralph Branca and Clem Labine; Pee Wee’s son, Mark, a documentary producer; Jackie’s son, David, and daughter, Sharon; writer Roger (“The Boys of Summer”) Kahn and me. The next day Larry King, a Brooklynite, presided over a Reese-Robinson statue party at the mayor’s Gracie Mansion residence. King, who said “the only time I ever considered killing myself was after Bobby Thomson hit the homer that beat the Dodgers” [in 1951) needled Giuliani. He said, “Rudy, you were born in Brooklyn, but you are a Yankee fan. Why?”
Giuliani explained that his uncle was a Yankee fan, and contrary guy that he was, liked being the only Yankee fan in a community filled with Dodger fans. He noted as well that the Yankees, rich with Italians Tony Lazzeri, Frank Crosetti, Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto and Yogi Berra over the years, had great appeal for Italians.
The statue, mostly privately-funded, is expected to be erected outside the front entrance of Steeplechase Park a year from September. Brooklyn deserves no less.
© 2001 by Stan Isaacs. The illustrations are from IMSI's Master/Clips collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. East, San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA.
You can comment on this column or contact Stan Isaacs with an email to: talkback@thecolumnists.com
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