PLOYS OF SUMMER

For most baseball fans, the off-season is a time to catch their breath and wait out the winter for a new season to begin. In Brooklyn, they’ve been waiting 44 years--until Monday, when “next year” finally arrived.

Amid great celebration, the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league team took the field at their new stadium in Coney Island and helped the long-suffering borough banish memories of the Dodgers’ departure for Los Angeles in 1957. Professional baseball has finally returned to Brooklyn, and for many die-hard fans who had turned out to welcome their new team, it’s long overdue.

“I’ll be watching these guys all season long, and nobody has to worry about the Dodgers anymore,” said Buddy Heffernan, watching fans pour into KeySpan Park. “We finally got some pride back.”

Hours before game time, a parade, including bagpipers and 1,500 Little Leaguers, welcomed the Class-A club to Coney Island, and cheers filled the beachfront sidewalks. For many, the sight of a new team in Brooklyn was cause to celebrate, and shed a tear.

“My dad would have loved this moment,” said Penny Fortunato, who happened to be visiting from out of town and remembers watching the Dodgers play. “I only wish he could have been here to see.”

After brief remarks by club officials, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Yankee fan, threw out the ceremonial first pitch, which was caught by former Brooklyn Dodger great Ralph Branca. Then the Cyclones went on to defeat the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, 3-2, in 10 innings.

A crowd of more than 6,500 fans gave the home team a warm welcome, and many felt goose bumps when the announcer said “Now batting for Brooklyn . . .”

But which club were they cheering? The Cyclones, a fledgling team affiliated with the New York Mets, will have to develop their own legends and lore to compete with the memory of the Brooklyn Dodgers, one of baseball’s most beloved teams. Even the most rabid fans who packed KeySpan Park conceded that players like Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider and Roy Campanella cast a long shadow over the $39-million ballpark just off the boardwalk.

Built on the site of the old Steeplechase Ride, KeySpan Park is a cozy, inviting place. But it can’t compete with the memories of Ebbets Field, the Dodgers’ old ballpark in downtown Flatbush. That small, 35,000-seat park featured some of the most colorful fans in baseball, and even though it was torn down in 1960 for a housing project, people here haven’t forgotten.

“That place was like a shrine,” said a misty-eyed Jim Inzerillo, who turned out for Monday’s opening-day festivities. “It’s like I grew up there.”

Still, if the enthusiasm at Key-Span Park is any measure, the Cyclones, who are named after the old-fashioned wooden roller coaster that darts and dives beyond the left-field fence, will have no problem winning the hearts of Brooklynites. The team, managed by Edgar Alfonzo, brother of Met second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo, will play in the New York-Penn League; it already has a built-in rivalry with the Staten Island Yankees, who inaugurated their own new ballpark Sunday.

Local politicians turned out in force for both opening days. Giuliani, who spearheaded the drive to build the minor league ballparks and also hopes to negotiate deals for new stadiums in New York for the major league Yankees and Mets, hailed the new Brooklyn park as a “new beginning” for the economically troubled Coney Island area.

But he had to twist arms to get the new stadium built. Some Brooklyn leaders, including Borough President Howard Golden, said the area desperately needed more community sports facilities. They wanted them built on the land where KeySpan Park sits, and even though City Hall has pledged to build a new sports complex here, there still are angry feelings.

“What about soccer fields and more basketball courts?” asked a teenager standing quietly on the periphery of the new stadium. “I think it’s great that we have a new team. But kids need more places to play too.”

KeySpan Park will host only a 38-game minor league baseball schedule, but city officials hope that it will be used for other entertainment purposes. Merchants along the rundown Coney Island boardwalk, once a bustling tourist site, are adopting a wait-and-see attitude on the ballpark’s commercial payoff.

“A baseball team can’t hurt,” said one. “We’ll see if it helps.”

At the very least, the new team--and ticket prices from $6 to $10--will give families a reason to come back to Coney Island. “I’ll bring my two sons here,” said Munir Sapir, a limousine driver who has lived in Brooklyn for 15 years. “It’s a lot cheaper than Shea Stadium.”

In the weeks leading up to opening day, the Cyclones triggered a wave of excitement and nostalgia among fans. Some couldn’t wait for the new team to begin play, hoping to forget the team that broke Brooklyn’s heart and headed west. Others were awash in childhood memories of hot summer nights at the baseball park--or on neighborhood stoops--with parents long departed.

“These are the happy times that allowed me to get through losing Dad in 1991, these are the smiles I recalled when Uncle Bill died in 1991,” said Jeanne Marie Ramauro, sharing her thoughts on a Cyclones Web site.

Dom Calabro, who grew up in Brooklyn, remembers raucous fans serenading an unlucky Dodger pitcher: “Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clem Labine. You have come to lose another, dreadful sorry, Clem Labine.” He added: “I’m out here in San Diego now, the land of the fruits and nuts, but I must get back to see a Cyclones game and get a Nathan’s hot dog.”

Even the Cyclones’ logo is a combination of old and new--a curlicued B reminiscent of the Dodgers’ old symbol, intertwined with an ornate C.

Fred Wilpon, the Mets’ owner who pushed hard to bring a team to Brooklyn, is banking on this enthusiasm to make the Cyclones an economic hit. So far, the team has sold out more than half of its home games, plus all 38 field boxes for the season. Although fans will be cheering on a young crop of players, the past never will be far behind.

On opening night, the crowd included surviving members of the Dodger Sym-Phony, a ragtag group of musicians who used to roam the Ebbets Field bleachers and torment opposing players. There also are plans to build a Brooklyn Dodgers museum near the park. And aficionados will be glad to know that the spirit of Abe Stark lives.

Years ago, the Brooklyn clothier put up a famous sign at the base of the right-field wall in Ebbets Field: “Hit Sign, Win A Suit.” Stark made good on his promise to batters, but only a handful actually managed to hit the small sign on the fly. At KeySpan Park, a similar sign will adorn the outfield wall, this time thanks to Brooklyn clothier Louis Bisaquino.

“We’re so proud to be doing this,” said his mother, Jean. “We’re not rich people, but we’ll certainly give someone a suit if they hit the sign. It’s part of an old Brooklyn tradition, and now it’s come back to life.”