MLB Parks Tour #13 – Marlins Park, Miami, FL – 2012

All caught up! We’re heading to three more stadiums this month!

The Miami trip and ballpark visit marked a new chapter for us. In many ways, it was a rebirth and a new start. 2012 had been particularly unkind to us, and when we left for Miami in September, we were pretty much done putting up with the year. But bad vibes aside, the Miami trip marked a decidedly different push for us as a family, and it was the first opportunity to introduce our third member of the family to our little family tradition.

The trip on the whole was amazing. We spent time on the beach, ate great food, met new awesome friends, stayed on a boat, and of course caught a ball game. The most fun we probably had was doing the whole Airbnb thing and staying on the boat. We like the adventure of Airbnb, because you just never know what’s going to happen. The majority of our experiences have been great, and this one with new friends Michelle and Pat was no exception. And Baron made a friend in Mack, their furry child (who they love so much he has his own Facebook profile). 😉

Marlins Park is the newest of all the stadiums we’ve visited thus far, and definitely one of the most unique. You can’t make any complaints about the condition and comfort of this stadium; it’s a gem. Further, it’s a contradiction when compared with other new parks, as the Marlins decided to go against the retro-styled grain and created a park very modern and contemporary. It’s also quite abstract and progressive. And despite the lengthy, controversial process of getting it funded and completed (which you can read about on the wiki page, but I don’t even want to begin sorting out), overall the final product is incredible. Like Houston, and a few others sprouting up, it features a fully retractable outfield wall and roof, perfect for a city whose weather is about as random as salad vehicles. We actually experienced all of the iterations in one evening: open wall/closed roof when we arrived, followed by rain and completely closed, then after the game, open roof and wall with postgame fireworks. Pretty cool all around.

A few notes:

Looking back, I’m happy to have seen the Marlins when they actually were trying to win some games. After the 2012 season, the much maligned ownership went on a fire sale, selling off many of the Marlins top players. Attendance is now down and as of the writing of this post, are on pace to have the worst major league season EVER (13-41 a little over a third through the season…ouch). Who knows what

This was the second time we saw Mark Buerhle win a game, the other being for the White Sox in 2009. This definitely makes me want to create some sort of running stat list for these trips. Because I’ve got time for that.

Pat, one of our new friends, has a really cool job. Aside from being a pilot and a ship captain, he also does freelance work with insurance companies recovering “stolen” (sometimes fraudulently claimed as stolen) boats. He makes trips to Cuba and various islands to essentially steal boats back. I don’t know many people with jobs as interesting as that.

The game:

Cincinnatti Reds – 4
Miami Marlins – 6

Saturday, September 15, 2012, 7:10PM
Time of Game: 2:58
Weather: 76° F, Indoors.

Attendance: 27,502

Winning Pitcher: Mark Buehrle (13-12)
Losing Pitcher: Johnny Cueto (17-9)
Save: Steve Cishek (14)

The hot dog:

(Hot Dog ratings are for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to hot dogs, either real or fictional, is purely coincidental.)

The Miami dog was pretty meh, and though I don’t know why, I expected more from the Cuban population Miami provides. As always, there are worse things than a dog at a ballgame, but this one wasn’t particularly memorable.

Score (out of 5): 3 Dogs

3.5 Hotdogs