NEW YORK - NEARLY an hour before the gates to KeySpan Park even opened on Tuesday, the line stretched for two streets. Fans waited for the prized possession: a Barack Obama bobblehead.

For one night, minor league baseball's Brooklyn Cyclones renamed themselves the Baracklyn Cyclones, in tribute to the new president.

And tickets cost no more than US$16 (S$23.30), cheaper than nosebleed seats at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.

Steve Fischer bought US$5 seats when they were sold in January as an 'Economic Stimulus Package.' With the bobbleheads going to only the first 2,500 fans at the 7,500-capacity stadium, he wanted to be at the front of the line before the Cyclones played the Hudson Valley Renegades.

The real first family didn't take the Cyclones up on their invitation to attend, though in the first inning news broke that Mr Obama planned to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the MLB All-Star game in St Louis on July 14.

Players on the New York Mets farm team wore white jerseys with 'Baracklyn' across the chest in red, red-and-white stripes on one sleeve and a mixture of stripes, white stars and a blue background on the other.

In a promotion invented by Cyclones general manager Steve Cohen, some fans received free Band-Aids as part of 'Universal Health Care'. People named Barack got in for free, anyone named McCain or Palin received free bleacher seats, and plumbers named Joe got two free tickets.

It's all part of the fun of Minor League Baseball, coming off six straight years of record attendance. Its 176 teams combined to draw 43.2 million fans last year; through Sunday they attracted an average of 3,993 per game.

Brooklyn isn't alone in the bobblehead craze. The Quad Cities River Bandits, a St Louis Cardinals farm club in Davenport, Iowa, is giving the first 2,000 fans bobbleheads of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this Saturday. -- AP