(L. to r.) New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; KeySpan Corporation Chairman and CEO Robert B. Catell, and Jeffrey Wilpon, Executive Vice President of Brooklyn Baseball Company, recently got together to announce that the New York Mets' farm team, the Brooklyn Cyclones, will be playing in KeySpan Park, a brand new stadium in Coney Island. On June 25th, the cry of "Play Ball!" will once again be heard in a professional ball park in Brooklyn.

Top City officials, including Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and City Council Finance Committee Chairman Herbert Berman, whose district includes Canarsie, last week joined the owners of the Brooklyn Cyclones, Brooklyn’s first professional baseball team in nearly 44 years, and the chairman chief executive officer of KeySpan Corporation announced that the electric power and natural gas utility company will be the corporate sponsor of the Coney Island home of the Cyclones, a Class "A" minor league affiliate of the New York Mets. The ballpark will be called KeySpan Park.

The oceanfront stadium, which will seat 6,500 fans, is located at the site of the former Steeplechase Park in Coney Island, at Surf Avenue and the Boardwalk between West 16th and West 19th Streets, just a few blocks from the Stillwell Avenue subway terminal. Construction on the ballpark began last August and will be completed in a few months.

"When the Cyclones play at this new ballpark on June 25th, it will mark professional baseball’s return to Brooklyn after an absence of more than 40 years," Mayor Giuliani said. "This ballpark will provide thousands of New Yorkers with affordable family entertainment.

"I’m already looking forward to throwing out the first pitch at the Cyclones’ home-opener," the mayor added, "and I encourage all baseball fans to purchase their tickets to the Brooklyn Cyclones before it’s too late."

"KeySpan Park is being constructed as a state-of-the-art ballpark for the 21st century, and when completed this spring it will be a fitting venue in which to return professional baseball to Brooklyn," said Jeffrey Wilpon, Executive Vice-President of Brooklyn Baseball Company.

"Brooklyn Baseball Company is committed to making the Brooklyn Cyclones the best professional minor league baseball club in America. We believe that KeySpan joining our team is a grand slam for the Cyclones, for Brooklyn, and for all our new fans," concluded Wilpon.

"This is a wonderful day for Brooklyn and for baseball," said Robert B. Catell, chairman and CEO of KeySpan Corporation. "KeySpan Park will be a centerpiece in the revitalization of Coney Island, a source of pride and recreation for the families of Brooklyn, and an engine of economic development for the City of New York. As a boy from Borough Park, I’m delighted that Brooklyn no longer has to ‘wait ‘til next year’ for its own professional baseball team."

Opening Day at KeySpan Park will be Monday, June 25th, when the Cyclones play the first home game of their inaugural 2001 season against a farm club of the Cleveland Indians. The Cyclones will play 38 regular season games through Labor Day weekend in KeySpan Park against 10 teams that, like the Cyclones, are members of the New York-Penn League.

The Cyclones will also play up to four post-season games at home if they reach the playoffs. In addition, many other team-sponsored youth and community events are planned for KeySpan Park.

The design of the ballpark is inspired by the ballpark’s fabled Coney Island surroundings. The Atlantic Ocean provides a spectacular centerfield backdrop for the park, which is only the second oceanfront ballpark on the East Coast. The boardwalk, the landmarked Parachute Jump and the world-famous Cyclone — the roller coaster that inspired the team’s name — all clearly visible from the stands.

Other design elements of the ballpark also evoke Coney Island’s long heritage as a public beach and amusement park hub. Twenty-foot-high canopies shaped like beach umbrellas will shield spectators along the first and third baselines. The outfield scoreboard will erupt in neon lights, emulating fireworks starbursts, when a Cyclones player hits a home run.

While maintaining a close-up and intimate feel for its fans, the ballpark will have spacious dimensions as well as unobstructed sightlines. The left field foul pole will be 315 feet from home plate, the right field foul pole will be 324 feet from home, and it will be 415 feet to straightaway dead center field.

The new ballpark will be wheelchair accessible and in full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. There will be ample parking that will accommodate approximately 1,100 vehicles.