Members of the minor league baseball squad's staff played a nonstop marathon over the weekend to raise money for charity, finishing around noon Saturday as temperatures soared to the 80s near their Coney Island ballpark.
"I'm very thankful we planned it that way and finished by noon, because when it was still the morning, it was getting extremely hot," general manager Steve Cohen said after playing third base or pitching for all but one inning.
Exact results weren't immediately available, but Cohen said his squad won a few games.
The 13-member team also included the team's assistant general manager and personnel from ticket sales, graphics, media relations and other departments.
They took the field at KeySpan Park at noon Friday and played against 12 other teams in two-hour games. Their rivals, who contributed $1,000 each to the fundraising effort, included teams from a local bar, Little League, the borough president's office and even the Secret Service.
The Cyclones introduced the idea last May, raising $2,500 then for food shelters while going 10-3 against teams of circus clowns and waiters, among others.
Even after enduring the experience once, "when we go into this, we all have this mentality of 'no problem - it's going to be easy,"' Cohen said. "And right around the 10 p.m.-to-midnight range, you start to see the people fading.
"By 6 a.m., when the sun comes up and you're kind of heading down the home stretch, you can see the wear and tear on people."
This year's baseball marathon raised an estimated $20,000 or more for Autism Speaks, HeartShare Human Services of New York and the New York-Penn League Charitable Foundation. The RCN cable television company pledged $50 for every run the team scored.
The Cyclones' 2008 season starts June 17 with a matchup against the Staten Island Yankees.
