June 26, 1927: The Coney Island Cyclone Opens

June 26, 1927: The Cyclone opens at Luna Park in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, in New York City. It becomes the most famous roller coaster ever built.

Luna Park is the current name for an amusement park that was built on the site of Astroland and Dreamland, adjacent to the original Luna Park.

Brothers Irving and Jack Rosenthal, who also developed Palisades Amusement Park in Bergen County, New Jersey, bought the land for the park. Vernon Keenan designed the coaster, which reaches a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour, and has a total track length of 2,640 feet (exactly half a mile), with a maximum height of 85 feet. It has 6 turns and 12 drops. Refurbishments were done in 1975 and 2016.

My grandmother, born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, had ridden the Cyclone. She told me it was overrated as a ride, and said I wouldn't enjoy it. To this day, I've never ridden it. 

In 2001, the New York Mets opened a ballpark, 4 blocks to the west of the coaster, for their team in the Class A New York-Penn League. They named the team the Brooklyn Cyclones. 

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June 26, 1927 was a Sunday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees split a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Athletics at Yankee Stadium. The A's won the opener, 4-2. Jack Quinn, a 43-year-old former Yankee born Joannes (Jan) Pajkos in Hungary, and 1 of the 17 pitchers permitted to keep throwing the spitball after 1920, outpitched Myles Thomas. The Yankees won the nightcap, 7-3. Wilcy Moore, normally a reliever, went the distance, while A's starter Sam Gray didn't make it to the 2nd inning.

Lou Gehrig went 2-for-8 with a solo home run in the 2nd game, Babe Ruth did not play in either game, and Ty Cobb, the former Detroit star playing out the string with the A's, only appeared in the 2nd game, as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known while Wilbert Robinson managed them from 1914 to 1931) beat their arch-rivals, the New York Giants, 7-1 at Ebbets Field. Dazzy Vance went the distance for the win. Rogers Hornsby went 1-for-4. Bill Terry went 0-for-4. Rookie Mel Ott appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-7 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Walter Johnson was the winning pitcher, for the 414th time in his career. He would win 3 more games that season, and retire.

* A doubleheader was split at League Park in Cleveland. The Cleveland Indians won the 1st game, 2-0. George Uhle pitched a 4-hit shutout. The St. Louis Browns won the 2nd game, 7-3. Over the 2 games, George Sisler went 3-for-8 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-5 at Redland Field (later Crosley Field) in Cincinnati.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-7 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Paul Waner went 3-for-5 with an RBI, and Lloyd Waner went 1-for-5.

* And the Boston Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies did not play: Massachusetts did not legalize professional sports on Sunday until the next year, and Pennsylvania did not do so until 1933.