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In honor of Marlins ballpark ground-breaking…
This morning, the Marlins will make history, holding the official ceremonial ground-breaking for their loooong awaited ballpark.
The ceremony is expected to be full of optimism and forward-looking, but it will also include a tinge of history: the Marlins’ first-ever pitcher-catcher battery of Charlie Hough and Benito Santiago will perform a ceremonial first pitch at the former Orange Bowl site.
With that in mind, when the Marlins take their new field, expected in 2012, they’ll be making another nod to the past -- changing their name to Miami Marlins. It’s a requirement of the ballpark deal struck with Miami-Dade County and city of Miami, which are paying the bulk of the ballpark’s price.
While the name isn’t expected to change until the new ballpark opens, the team is already quietly easing into the transition. Its Web site is now just marlins.com without the Florida.
As for the original Miami Marlins, they were a minor league team that played in the International League from 1956 to 1960 at Miami’s famed and now-demolished Miami Stadium (renamed Bobby Maduro in 1987). Satchel Paige pitched for the team. Later, there was a Florida State League team named the Miami Marlins, which played at the stadium from1962-1970 and then from 1982-1988.
The original Miami Marlins are immortalized in a T-shirt produced by Ebbets Field Flannels, a Seattle mail order company (ebbets.com) that sells authentic flannel and felt-lettered reproductions of minor league baseball jerseys, jackets and caps, favored by the likes of Spike Lee, David Letterman and former Sex Pistol John Lydon. As you can see, the shirt’s orange – one of the Major League Marlins’ colors - and shows a baseball bat-wielding marlin popping out of old Miami Stadium.
Comments
What a farce!They back into a Championship in 2003 by accident (Jack McKeown, Ramon Castro, Mordecai, Pavano, etc. all playing key roles) ... they back into the pennant by accident and have spent 6 or 7 years since trying not to get into a pennant race again so that they do not have to buy ball players and spend money and so that they can pocket all of the revenue sharing money.
CARPETBAGGERS HAVE COME SOUTH AGAIN FROM MONTREAL WHERE THEY DESTROYED BASEBALL. The really great players they have had are not from the Beinfest NO PEDIGREE FARM, ARE MOSTLY, if not all, FROM DOMBROWSKIS DAYS (granted that Ramirez and Josh Johnson might become Pedigree but they have only played 2 years) ... Beckett, Penny, Burnett, Cabrera, Luis Castillo, Derek Lee, etc. They are all from the Dombrowski era.
The players they traded for Hall of Famer to be Miguel Cabrera and fan favorite Dontrelle Willis were Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin. Beinfest is more a producer of the likes Bonifacio's, Uggla's, Ross Gload than for the real Pedigree guys. These are not real major leaguers. The Marlin owners do not really want the team to get too competitive because they will have to then make an intent to get new baseball players at trading deadline to compete like when they were being asked to get into the Manny Ramirez lottery last year. THE LORIAS, Madoff like in their scheming and raping of the community.
Posted by: Ovidius | July 23, 2009 11:12 PM
that shirt is awesome! i gotta get me one!
Posted by: huge marlins fan | July 18, 2009 8:43 PM
that shirt is awesome! i gotta get me one!
Posted by: huge marlins fan | July 18, 2009 8:42 PM
At least at Dolphin,a lot of the tickest prices are low. Wait till the Marlins release the ticket prices at the new stadium.That alone will keep people away.They have not said what the parking in the garage will cost either.
Posted by: Suckers | July 18, 2009 3:51 PM
Building a ballpark for a private owned company and millionair is crazy ! People from north broward arent going to go down there ( where nobody speaks english) any way. A commisioner held up the deal so she could get money to rebuild overtown ? What a joke dade county government is.
Posted by: choppersu | July 18, 2009 12:30 PM
Although I am a diehard Marlins fan, I have to agree that the new Marlins ball park is a complete boondoggle.
You can't have a successful team without a fan base and the Marlins have essentially none.
Plenty of baseball fans in South Florida. It is just that they don't support the Marlins.
The Yankees, Cubs, Mets, Red Sox, Phillies, Cardinals, all have much larger and more enthusiastic followings here in South Florida.
Last night in Dolphin Stadium it was all Phillies fans. They might as well have played the game in Philadelphia.
So they are going to spend a billion dollars plus and build a beautiful park so that visiting team fans can humiliate the Marlins.
David Samson loves the idea. He thinks that filling the park with visiting team fans will keep the team afloat.
So the Marlins will play the part of the Washington Generals-a team designed for the pleasure of the rest of baseball.
It won't work.
If ever a team should have been moved, it was the Marlins. Or actually eliminated as there is no place in the country that wants them.
Contraction in the major leagues/ The Marlins should have been the first candidate.
Now why are we building that stadium?
Posted by: jrhana | July 18, 2009 12:08 PM
and is the best they can do is attract a revamped version of The Village Peeople to play at their concerts along with other has-beens to try and sell tix at the current stadium. No one is going to hang out after the dismal games.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 18, 2009 11:39 AM
This new stadium is the worst deal in the history of South Florida. The public has been seriously fleeced to the the tune of $2.4 Billion. The public pays so much yet receives so little. It is truly an outrage. And the fact that the $2.4 billion figure was hidden from the public until the deal was signed, the bonds sold and the site was prepped for construction is most aggregious. And the Marlins still really expect to sell out every seat to every game? Gimme a break.
Posted by: BJ | July 18, 2009 10:57 AM