Last night the Cyclones played what would turn out to be their final game of the season at Richmond County Bank Ballpark in Staten Island against the Staten Island Yankees. Despite the Cyclones elimination from playoff contention thanks to a Connecticut Tigers 9-8 victory it was one of my most fun baseball nights in recent memory. I got to the park about an hour before game time and made my way down to the field on the visiting side hoping for some player interactions and that was just what I got. I got to meet Casey Meisner (top right) (who pitched brilliantly last night by the way), John Mora (second from top, right), Jhoan Urena (third from top, right), Amed Roasrio (middle bottom), Michael Conforto (middle top), Tomas Nido and a few others pre game. I also met some incredible Cyclones fans that go to tons of games and have formed personal relationships with the players so I had a ball. Casey Meisner pitched an absolute gem and this game was all Cyclones. Amed Rosario is so much fun to watch at short, he’s so raw and plays with a fun little flare, Conforto has such a pretty, fluid swing and Brad Wieck has a curveball that drops off the table something FIERCE (when I saw him post game I simply said, “Brad Wieck, your curve is beautiful.”). After the game we waited out by the bus for the Connecticut game to end in hopes of celebrating with the boys but unfortunately the celebration never came. It was still pretty cool though…all the guys came out back and chatted with all the fans outside, hugged them goodbye and had something of a last hoorah. That was when I got to meet Marcos Molina (top left), Carlos Valdez (bottom left) and Edioglis Villasmil (bottom right) and a bunch of other guys. It was also Jhoan Urena’s 20th birthday so a bunch of fans made him a big, awesome card and gave it to him out back at the end then we all sang happy birthday in English, then in Spanish. The smile plastered across his face was priceless. It’s so incredible to see how much the fans mean to these guys, so many of them are here at 18, 19, 20 years old essentially with no one, those fans that are there all the time become like a second family. Last night helped me see another side of baseball that I always new existed but never really got to see firsthand. It was absolutely awesome and I can’t wait to go to a million Cyclones games next season.
Myself and any of the players I got the chance to take pictures.
Jhoan Urena reading his birthday card with fans.
