Back in September when the 2012 MLB schedule was released I was thrilled to see the Astros would be playing the first ever weekend series at Marlins Park on April 13-15
th.
With no new parks opening last year, I was really looking forward to booking my 2012 baseball trip and returning to South Florida after my first Marlins baseball trip 8 years ago (2004) to what was then called Pro Player Stadium.
The Marlins were the defending World Champs, but you wouldn’t know it from the small crowds in their aging, spacious football stadium…didn’t really bother me as you could score cheap tickets and sit wherever you like as I did, but the atmosphere and overall baseball experience was lacking as the “stadium” ranked near the bottom of any ballpark chaser’s rankings of ballparks.
Marlins Park is #41 on my list of ballparks attended, and it gets me back on track in attending games at all 30 active MLB ballparks. Marlins Park is the 6th MLB ballpark to have a retractable roof, and in listening to the Marlins broadcast yesterday, the announcers expect the roof to be closed for much of the season as the team is primarily seeking to provide “comfort” to their fans after 19 years of battling the heat and frequent rain delays.
First impressions: from the outside, the ballpark is an impressive sight – it looks really huge, all white domed structure, as it sits on the former site of the historic Orange Bowl. As a nice tribute, on the outer plaza there are huge orange letters which appear to have been taken from the original stadium and are scattered around in the ground like statues -- depending on your vantage point, the letters could spell out Orange or Game. Located in Little Havana, it’s a bit too far to walk to from downtown, and the surrounding neighborhood isn’t desirable. Traffic, parking and lack of public transit to ballpark seem to be a problem, and I spent most of my money on cabs this weekend.
And from the moment you walk in the ballpark, there’s a lot to see that catches your eye: the view of the downtown skyline through the tall glass panels beyond left field, the large unnamed “HR sculpture” in left center, giant scoreboard and large HD screen above center field, and the lime green outfield walls stick out the most. The roof was closed on Friday night as it had been raining; however, it was open on Saturday night and the vibe within the ballpark was so much better with the roof open. It’s a shame they plan to keep it closed more often than not, especially when you consider it only take 13-15 minutes to open and close the roof. I was looking forward to watching the Sunday matinee under the sun in the pleasant low 80 degree temps but was disappointed to discover the roof closed.
One of the most unique features of the ballpark is the bobblehead museum. It features over 700 baseball bobbleheads in a glass display case; the players are grouped together by team, so it’s easy to locate your favorite team/players. There were about 25 Astros including Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Jose Cruz, and of course Biggio and Bagwell.
Another unique feature is the two aquariums (450 gallons each) behind home plate. The only problem with these is that they are not very noticeable in the park (they look good on TV and if you are lucky enough to seat those premium sets!) Another distinguishable feature is The Clevelander bar/club in the outfield next to the bullpen. It includes a swimming pool, dancers (some adorned in Vegas-style costumes others covered in body paint) and open bench seating and barstools on the field level behind a chain link fence in LF. The music is loud and the drinks are flowing throughout the game and into the night with the feeling of being in South Beach.
The ballpark’s signature HR sculpture symbolizes the beaches of South Florida along with the tropical colors of Miami.
When activated by a Marlins homer, the sculpture illuminates and water fountains go off as the marlin leaps in the air.
It wasn’t until Sunday (4
th home game of season) before Omar Infante drove a ball out of the park and the expected celebration was pretty cool, but not spectacular.
As for HR celebrations, nothing beats the old Astrodome scoreboard.
Astrodome HR celebration (scroll to :40 second mark) Nonetheless, this Marlins celebration will surely become a highlight and much anticipated moment during games for the fans.
One thing that was surprisingly missing from the ballpark was any evidence of the Marlins 2 World Series pennants ('97 and '03). I was looking for any sign of history, and it wasn't until Saturday with the roof open and breeze coming through that I did notice 2 small flags hanging from the rear scoreboard, behind the LF foul pole which signified their championships. On the days the roof was closed they were not visible at all. Another disappointing sight was the number of empty seats for this series. The Marlins didn't price/sell their premium seats effectively as there were large pockets of empty seats in scattered sections throughout the park. The park has a cozy feel to it and only seats 37,000, and the majority of these seats are close to the field (the upper section was not very large, and there was not a lot of wasted space in the park); I like this aspect of the park.
As for the series, Astros LF JD Martinez had quite the homecoming. A Miami native, he hit the first HR in Marlins Park history on Friday night and drove in several runs in the series. The Marlins took the series 2 games to 1, but interestingly the final score in each game was 5-4 and each game was tied 4-4 at one point in the 9th inning with both Marlins wins coming in 11 innings. Great series, and I nearly came away with a foul ball. My seats on Fri and Sat night were down the LF line, really close to the field, in what I would call "Bartman seats" as I could easily reach over the field of play and possibly interfere with a player on a ball hit in foul territory. The first batter on Friday night drove a deep liner toward my section; as fans were scattering I reached out my palm to try to barehand it, unfortunately it bounced off and another fan secured it. In all my years of going to baseball games I have yet to catch a foul ball; however, I do have quite a collection of balls caught during BP.
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| Nolan Ryan |
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| Clemens and Cruz |
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| Aquariums |
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| Clevelander |
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| Clevelander |
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| View from Clevelander |
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| Dancers in Clevelander |
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| Billy Marlin |
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| Orange Bowl letters |
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| Miami skyline |
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| Biggio and Bagwell |
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| Mike Scott and Jose Valverde |
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| skyline |
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| WS Pennants |
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| Scoreboard |
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| View from my seats |
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| Getting dressed with paint |
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| Marlins broadcast |
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| View from Sunday's seats |
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| HR sculpture going off |
I enjoyed my visit to Marlins Park and look forward to returning one day, and I would definitely recommend scheduling a visit in April with the chance you might get an open roof game before the summer heat sets in.
